Homecoming
by Ooshka
Summary: AH Sequel to Homestay and Home for Christmas. Eric leaves New Zealand and goes back to the States. How does everyone cope with the distance?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Hello again! Here is the sequel to Home for Christmas I have been promising those of you who reviewed my one-shots Eric Northman is Not Hot! (I was so expecting to get lynched for posting a story with that title on this site!) and The Naming of Things. This is just a short chapter I'm afraid, but it kind of sets the scene. So we're now a few weeks on, end of January.**

**And for those of you interested in weather-watch Auckland, it is now officially Spring, the clocks have gone forward, it's quite warm, and I think I caught some sun hanging the washing out earlier today. Hard to believe last week it was pouring with rain, I couldn't remember when it had last been sunny and I was sitting here with the heater on. Yeah, sometimes a bit of transition is nice!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

SPOV

I rolled over and looked at the clock. 11pm. Which made it…what? Five hours since I'd left Eric at the airport. And I was lonely. Terribly, desperately lonely. So lonely that I was seriously considering getting the t-shirt Eric had left in the laundry hamper back out and dressing his pillow in it. But even I could tell that would be weird.

But I couldn't sleep. And I couldn't shut up the nagging voice that suggested that maybe that view of Eric walking off at the airport was the last glimpse I'd ever see of him. He'd left a car in the driveway, and clothes in the drawers, but still...he'd had his holiday in New Zealand now. Maybe he was ready to go back to his old life.

Maybe I should have let him buy me an engagement ring. Because surely you wouldn't leave someone if you'd bought them a ring? I guess you still could if you really wanted to.

I was obviously a bad person to be thinking this way, because really Eric hadn't done anything to suggest he wasn't coming back. It was only two weeks, he was coming right back as soon as he could get everything cleared out of his apartment and put it on the market, and sell his car. Well that's what he said anyway.

Of course lying here all I could think about was that he was very far away. Well, on a plane at any rate, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. And how hurt he looked every time I said it was silly to spend money on a ring for me when we could use it to buy a business.

I was still lying there at midnight. I really missed having Eric with me, even if he did drape himself all over me all the time. And now that it was the end of January it was really getting a bit hot to be sharing all that body heat. But I wouldn't mind tonight, I thought. I probably wouldn't even do that thing I did sometimes where I surreptiously jabbed my heel in his shin to get him to move a bit. No, I wouldn't mind at all being smothered tonight.

And as you sometimes do when you can't sleep I decided to do all sorts of fun things to torture myself. I tried to work out which would be worse, Eric dying (like lots of people seem to do on me) or him leaving me. Of course Bill had managed the double of leaving me then dying, so he'd always win the 'how many times can you break Sookie's heart' competition.

Because obviously that's a competition we should hold every year.

And then I got to thinking that if my fairy godmother showed up tonight and said I could have Bill or Eric back, which one I would pick. To try to be really fair I tried to remember what Bill was like before the drugs and slot him back into our lives now. I felt sure he'd struggle with Amelia; he did a bit when she was younger, but she was even more headstrong now. And so stubborn. And Bill was all for girls behaving nicely, although I'm not sure where he got that idea from because I'd met his sisters. I guess life with him would be…OK, but only just OK. Or maybe not because I suspected we really weren't suited, that what had made him a good boyfriend when I was 18 didn't necessarily translate to him being a good husband when I was 34. When it came down to it I was actually much happier with Eric. I had fun with Eric. I could be myself with Eric. And the sex was…phenomenal.

OK, so Eric wins that one. I lie there wishing I could sleep, but it's just not happening.

I start to think how much nicer it would be if I was on the plane with Eric right now. Although knowing Eric he'd be trying to get me to join the mile high club. Shit, he wouldn't be doing that with someone else would he? Maybe I should have got him a ring, although I don't know that it really screamed 'fuck off he's taken' in quite the way I'd like. Maybe something more along the lines of Bob's collar and tag with his name and address and my cellphone number on it might be better?

I guess though that those tags really work best for getting them returned to you if they're lost, like if Eric falls down drunk somewhere. Which brings me to the next worry for this hour of the morning, because by this stage it's about 1am. What if Eric starts drinking again? Like, binge-drinking and doing stupid shit? There's no one to watch out for him in the States and although he's had a couple of sessions with the counsellor now, I don't think he's exactly all better yet.

The counselling sessions were pretty hard on him I think, although he didn't want to talk about it to me at all. First time he came home I heard his car and then…nothing. I think he just sat in the car for an hour. And then he came in and it was like nothing had happened. Second time it was maybe 45 minutes, third time about half an hour. And now he was back in the States with god knows what temptations.

This is a really crappy way to spend a night.

In the end I decided I might get up and go and watch my children sleep for a bit, which is always a fairly relaxing activity. I tiptoed into Amelia's room. She had chucked all her covers off in the heat and was lying on her stomach with several toys tucked under each arm. I stood and looked at her, with her face relaxed in sleep she looked like my little baby again. I kissed her cheek, pulled up her sheet and left.

Felicia was sleeping across the cot again. I don't know why she thought that was a good idea. So I reached in and scooted her around, which caused her eyelids to flutter but she barely stirred. It was funny but only when they were asleep could I really see the similarities between Felicia and Amelia. All of a sudden you realised their noses and lips were identical. I kissed Felicia and headed back to my room.

I got back into bed feeling not exactly better, but a bit more content. No matter what happened I still had my babies. And they needed me. And Eric would be back soon and then we could get on with our lives. We had Felicia's first birthday to look forward to, and Judith and Calvin's wedding. Eric would be back for all of that, I was sure he would.

I looked at the clock. It was now 2am, so if I was lucky and everyone slept in to a reasonable time I might get four and a half hours sleep. Fingers crossed for that.

It was going to be a bloody long two weeks.

EPOV

Sookie was right. It was a fucking long way to New Zealand, and it was just fucking depressing knowing that I was getting further and further away from her with every minute that passed.

There's not much you can do on a plane but sit and think. I tried watching one of the movies, but I couldn't really get into it. I tried reading, but I kept reading the same sentence over and over again. I was fucking tempted to drink myself into a coma, but one of the air hostesses kept coming by to 'check I was OK' and I really didn't want to leave myself at her mercy.

Fuck I thought, things have changed in the last four months.

So there was nothing I could do but sit and pretend to sleep, so the annoying air hostess would leave me alone, and think. And all I could think about was Sookie. And how she'd be asleep now and I should be there with her, holding her. And trying to avoid her heels as she seemed to like to kick me in her sleep.

It had only been a few hours since I'd left and I missed her already. I wondered if she missed me, or if she was…glad to get rid of me? Surely she wouldn't have let me stay all this time if she just wanted me to go?

But two weeks was a long time. Maybe she'd change her mind?

Fuck. I shouldn't have left. I should have taken a leaf out of Bob's book and just fucking stayed put. It doesn't matter how many times Sookie tried to move Bob off the ottoman, if he doesn't want to go he doesn't, and eventually she gives up. I should have tried that move. Fuck Victor and his need for a proper exit interview.

Surely though, she wouldn't have asked me to marry her if she wasn't serious? You didn't do that, and then wait for someone to go away for work, and then, what, change the locks?

If only she'd let me buy her an engagement ring.

I got that she didn't want to waste money, I really did. And I even kind of understood, although Sookie wasn't saying it, that she'd done all this shit before. I knew her rings were put away for Amelia and Felicia to have one day. But I really wanted to give her something special, something that said how much she meant to me, and she fucking wouldn't let me. Was that a sign? That she wasn't really as into this as I was?

Fuck, planes are hot and cramped and noisy and there was no way I was going to be able to sleep when I had all this shit running around my head. I wanted to hear Sookie's voice. I wanted her to tell me it was all OK and she'd see me in two weeks. I wanted to go home.

Instead I was in a fucking plane heading to the States. Where I was going to have to try really hard to avoid anything to do with my old life. Three miserable fucking sessions with a counsellor and I was patently not fixed, I was just more aware than ever that I was fucked up. Hopefully not fucked up beyond repair, but you never knew. This trip was going to be one hell of a test.

This was a long fucking flight. And even when I got to LA I had to get on another plane to Shreveport. How the fuck did I not notice just how far away I was going when I left?

I guess alcohol has some things going for it.

I make another attempt to get interested in a movie, but I still can't focus. The movies in my head are infinitely better. I close my eyes and go over the last few weeks with Sookie and the kids, the trips to the beach, the picnics in the backyard, Amelia on the trampoline. Sookie on the trampoline…although I realise pretty quickly that I shouldn't spend too much time thinking about that image. Better to keep things fairly PG rated while I'm stuck on this fuck-awful plane.

I loved Sookie so much. And two weeks wasn't so long really, was it? It would be OK, I'd get back and it would be like I'd never been away. Amelia would talk at me, Felicia would throw things in my general direction, and Sookie, well, Sookie would look at me and smile and it would all be OK. I'd be where I needed to be. And maybe she'd even change her mind and let me buy her that ring. I just needed to suck it up and get through the next two weeks; clear my stuff out of my apartment, put it up for sale, get the car sold. Go into the office and hand their shit back and smile and nod while Victor drones on about whatever the fuck he thinks is interesting that day, and then it's over and I can go home again. I can do it.

Fuck, I thought. Who am I kidding? It's going to be miserable. It's going to be a fucking long two weeks.

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N A big thank you to everyone that has reviewed and alerted this story! You guys are just fabulous!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

SPOV

I was getting bored of having the same old conversations with Amelia. "Where's Eric?" she'd ask.

"He's in the States. He had to sell his house." I was trying to keep it simple for her.

"Why?"

"Because he lives here now."

"Is the States in New Zealand?"

"No, we're in New Zealand. Eric's not. He had to go on an aeroplane to get there."

"I've never been in a plane! I want to go on a plane!"

"Well maybe one day you will."

"When? Saturday?"

"One day." Then she'd either stomp off, or, worse, she'd carry on with the conversation.

"So when is Eric coming back?"

"Soon. In a couple of weeks."

"How do you know?"

"He told me. And I'm pretty sure he told you."

"He came back before, didn't he Mummy?"

"Yes he did."

"He won't forget where he lives, will he?"

"No, he won't."

And if I was lucky it stopped there. When I wasn't lucky we started the whole thing again.

And so, in an effort to break us out of the endless cycle of questions, I took the girls and we went to visit Tara and her kids after Amelia finished pre-school for the day. Tara was having some time off work before her two started school again so she was in the throes of painting her front door when we arrived.

"What are you doing Aunty Tara?" Amelia asked, while internally I cheered that someone else was getting the third degree for once. See this was what we all needed, someone else to focus on.

"Painting the door" said Tara stepping back from it. She looked at it then turned to me "So do you like it blue? I didn't want it blue, but I got out-voted by the rest of the family."

"Yeah, the blue's nice…ow!" I was holding Felicia and she whacked me in the side of the face. Eric had been trying to teach her to high-five and she was now a lethal weapon with her enthusiastic slapping of everything she could reach. It caused a few difficulties when she thumped Amelia and I got a tearful three year old coming to me wailing "The baby hit me!" Obviously the head trauma prevented her remembering her sister's name.

"Mmm" said Tara. "Not sure…"

"Can I paint Aunty Tara? I'm good at painting!" Amelia looked at Tara expectantly.

"Uh, why don't you go inside and see what Charlotte's doing? She's in her room."

"OK then." Amelia ran off, happy to be allowed to hang out with a big girl. I just hoped Charlotte was as happy to see her.

"Right, well. Come on in then" Tara said, picking up her paint pot and brush and going inside the house.

We trudged into the family room and I put Felicia down on the floor. She of course made a bee-line for the kitchen and the drawer she knew she could go through.

"I'll be back in a minute, I'm just going to clean this up" Tara said wandering out the back of the house with the paint.

So I sat there by myself and watched Felicia chuck plastic containers all over Tara's floor and tried to think happy thoughts.

I didn't hear Tara arrive back in the house though. "Wow, Sookie" she said "You look miserable."

"What? Oh. Thanks a bunch."

"Missing Eric?"

"Yeah, I am. And I'm worrying about Eric and I'm, well, you know."

"Yeah, I do. Although after 13 years with JB sometimes it's nice when he goes away. It would be nicer of course if he took the kids with him, but well, sometimes a break is good."

"Yeah…"

"But it's a bit early for you guys to be having a break?" Tara asked as she walked to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of wine.

"Yeah, I guess it is. I don't know. It's just…hard…"

"What's hard? Being alone again?" Tara handed me a glass of wine and I took a sip.

"Yeah, and just worrying I guess. About Eric. And what he's doing over there."

"What do you think he'll be doing?"

"Well I don't know, that's the problem."

Tara gave me a funny look. "You're not his mum, Sookie."

"What?"

"You. Are. Not. His. Mother. He'll be fine, God he looked after himself for how long before he met you? Seriously, what could go wrong?"

Sometimes Tara really pissed me off. "You don't know anything about it" I huffed.

"Well then tell me. Jeez, Sookie. It's no good you sitting there and stewing about it."

I sighed. Did I mention how Tara pissed me off sometimes? "There's all sorts of things he could be doing Tara, he could be out drinking himself into a stupor, or sleeping with random women, or doing both. I don't know. I'm here and not there."

Now it was Tara's turn to sigh. "Sookie do you really think he would be? Because if you really, seriously think he would do that to you then you'd better hope he doesn't come back, because you'll be better off without him. And you seriously shouldn't be marrying him. Do not marry someone you don't trust."

"I do trust him!" I said, rather annoyed that Tara might think otherwise.

"Well then, stop worrying." Tara's face suddenly changed, like a lightbulb had gone off somewhere.

"What?" I asked.

"Now, Sookie, I'm only going to say this to you once. If you marry Eric I don't want to EVER have to say this to you again, OK?"

"OK…" I was curious as to where this was going so I agreed, even though Tara was being really bossy.

"Eric is not Bill."

"Yeah, I know that! God, Tara, I'm not stupid, I can figure out the difference. I…" but Tara held out a hand to cut me off.

"I'm not sure you do know the difference at this moment in time" she said, looking like she'd just latched onto a secret that was going to help her shift millions of self-help books and make her a fortune. "So repeat after me, Eric is not Bill."

"What?"

"For Christ's sake, Sookie! Just do it! Say it. Say Eric is not Bill."

"EricisnotBill" I mumbled, feeling annoyed.

"Clearly. Say it clearly."

"Eric. Is. Not. Bill. There. Happy now?"

"Sookie I'm not the one who was miserable in the first place. Do you feel better?"

"Um, not really. But possibly that's more to do with the fact you're bossing me around."

Tara looked exasperated. I decided I liked Tara more before she decided she was in charge of my mental health.

"Well then say it again."

"Do I have to?"

"Yep, you do."

"Fine. Eric is not Bill."

"Which means…?" Tara made a go-on motion with her hands.

"Um, he's not dead? A drug addict? Related to Lorena Compton? I don't know Tara!"

"It means, Sookie, that he's not going to disappoint you. That he won't run off and leave you. You need to trust that, and if you don't, then for Christ's sake don't marry the man. You'll only regret it."

"Oh. OK. Yeah…I guess I do get that. Eric is not Bill. He won't do something stupid and run off." Maybe that would work as a mantra when I can't sleep at night I thought.

"Excellent. Now, here choose what you guys want." Tara passed over a menu from her local takeaways. "I'll get JB to pick up fish and chips on the way home; it's far, far too bloody hot to cook in this weather."

"Yeah, it is. Thanks for this."

"Oh, no problem. You might as well stay for dinner as you're here."

"No, I meant. You know, for everything. For the whole Eric is not Bill speech."

"Oh, well that's OK. But if I have to do it again then I mean it, I will not be pleased! Seriously, I'll call the divorce lawyer or whatever myself, because I shouldn't be the person who knows this. It should be you!" Tara put on her best stern-mummy expression.

"Yes, Tara!" I said, poking my tongue out at her.

EPOV

When I got to my apartment, after I seemed to have been travelling for days, it smelt like something had died in there. Fuck. I had no idea what I'd been paying the cleaners for but it clearly hadn't been to clean the fucking place.

It was late and I was tired though, so I just collapsed in the bed and fell asleep. When I woke up I couldn't figure out for the life of me where I was for a few minutes. The place seemed eerily quiet without the noise usually made by Amelia or Felicia or even Bob. It was like I was the only person in the world. Well, I guess I was the only person in the house.

It was really, really lonely.

I got up and had a miserable lonely shower. It was just me, my hand the memories I had of Sookie. Sookie lying naked on her bed, Sookie's mouth on my cock, Sookie riding me on the deck, Sookie and I in front of the mirror…fuck. It was going to be a long two weeks. A very long two weeks. And then I'd get to go home and I could make some more of these fuck-awesome memories with Sookie. Yeah, let's concentrate on that.

First day back was really shitty. There was no food in the place so I had to go out to get breakfast. I went to the coffee shop down the street from my place and hoped that the girl that I'd slept with once wasn't still working there. Yeah, of course she fucking was.

"Hi Eric!" she said, way too brightly. "I haven't seen you, in like, forever!"

"Yeah. Hi, um, Mandy" Thank fuck for name tags. "Um, I moved. To New Zealand." I figured I was safe saying that, it might put her off and she was unlikely to fucking follow me there.

"Oh, where?"

"New Zealand."

"What state is that in?"

Oh fuck, this girl was dumb. "It's another country. Near Australia."

"What? So there's kangaroos and stuff?"

"Um. No. It's not actually Australia."

"Oh. OK. So, anyway, are you back here for long?"

"No."

"Do you want to meet up sometime?"

"No."

"Fuck! Who put a stick up your ass?"

I couldn't really believe this girl was going to fucking give me a hard time because, what, I wouldn't sleep with her? I just looked at her hoping she would fuck off, but she seemed to be expecting an answer.

"I'm married" I tried in an effort to get her to leave me alone.

"So?"

"So I don't want to sleep with you."

"Fuck, you are seriously lame these days Eric. You're like someone's dad or something."

"Probably because I am someone's dad." Fuck, I thought, how old was this girl anyway?

"I cannot believe I EVER thought you were hot. Jesus, you're just…old and lame. Good luck in Australia." With that she finally got the hint and fucked off.

I was going to have a really good think about all the other places I had to avoid while I was back so I didn't have to have this kind of shitty conversation again. Why had I ever thought these girls were worth wasting my time on?

So the rest of the day was spent berating the cleaners for doing a fucking miserable job, and talking to realtors about selling my condo. I advertised my car for sale and then I phoned Sandy so she could tell Victor I'd be in the office tomorrow.

And then it was the evening and it was just me alone again. Fuck.

SPOV

Eric rang just after I'd got both kids into bed.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Immigration control for the Polly Pockets."

"Are those the tiny dolls with the rubber fetish-wear?"

"Well they're the tiny dolls with the rubber clothes. What do you know about fetish-wear?"

"Only what I've read. So how come you're playing with them anyway?"

"I'm packing them up for the day. Although we've had a population explosion since you've been away. Tara had a clean-out of Charlotte's stuff and we've inherited a lot of things she's grown out of. So that includes some Polly's. And their plane."

"They have…an aeroplane?"

"Yeah, it's huge. It's not just a plane, either. It's a fashion show plane. It has a runway. It's very, very popular because, and I quote, no-one has taken Amelia on a plane, EVER, and she is very, very sad because of this. You've been on a plane, I've been on a plane, but Amelia has not been on a plane and therefore she is missing out."

"Wow. That's a sore point, huh?"

"Oh, yes. I should have said you'd gone by train. She's been on a train."

"Fuck, the plane trip was bad enough. If I'd had to come by train I'd still be travelling."

"Yep. Told you it was a long way."

"Yeah, you did." Eric was silent for a bit. "I miss you" he said. He sounded really sad. "I miss all of you."

"Yeah, we miss you. Amelia asks me constantly where you are. And Felicia, well. She's trying really hard to get the high-five thing right. My face has been hit a few times."

Eric laughed, but he still sounded really depressed. Bugger, all I could think about was the stupid shit he did when I first met him and he was lonely. Please don't let him stalk strange women in the States I thought.

"It's not that long, is it? Two weeks?" Eric asked.

"Yeah, it's not that long. We'll get through it."

We were silent for a bit. "I wish it was over now" Eric said, still sounding sad.

"Yeah, me too." I wished someone was looking after him, but maybe not as well as I'd looked after him when he followed me home and I let him stay. Well, not in the same way anyway. I kind of wished he had a mother, or a grandmother, or an aunt or someone who would make sure he was OK.

"So what is happening in the States? Anything exciting?" I was trying to change the subject and make things a bit happier.

"Um, nothing much. My place smells like death, the cleaners are fucking useless. I have to go into the office tomorrow which should be…interesting. Otherwise everything is pretty much the same as when I left. It's like I was never away."

No, I thought, no it's not. Because you met me. That makes it all really different, doesn't it? I waiting for Eric to say something along those lines, but he didn't. He just sighed into the phone.

"So what do you think they'll want you to do at work?" I asked him.

"Um, don't know really. Probably just hand over some stuff, give their equipment back, sign some shit. It won't be too bad. And when it's done I've really got to get this place sold."

"Do you think it will?"

"Well, if it doesn't when I'm here then I'll just leave it in the hands of the realtors. They can sort it out."

"Oh, OK. Well that sounds sensible. What about the car?"

"Um, well I'm hoping to get rid of that soon. I've advertised it and I've had one call already, so hopefully it will go."

"Yeah."

We were silent again. I tried to breathe away the impending tears. "Don't be sad, Sookie" Eric said. "I fucking hate it when you're sad. I fucking hate it that I'm making you sad."

"No, I'm OK" I said sniffing. "It's not your fault. We always knew this would happen, you'd have to go back for a while."

"Yeah, we knew. But it sucks though, doesn't it?"

"It does."

"I hate sleeping alone."

I laughed. "I would have thought you'd enjoy being able to spread out in your own bed."

"Doesn't feel like my bed anymore. Doesn't have you in it."

"Oh. Yeah. Well it's lonely here without you. Even though I don't wake up all hot and sweaty with you half-stuck to me."

Eric laughed. "You love it when I'm stuck to you! Admit it."

I shrugged, then realised that didn't really translate over the phone. "S'alright" I admitted. "Sometimes."

"I'll be home soon, Sookie."

"Yeah, I know." I thought it was a good sign he was still calling this home. I was sure it was.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"Tell Amelia and Felicia I miss them."

"Yeah, I will. Although it will just set Amelia off again with the two hundred questions about where Eric went."

"Yeah, I guess it will. It's so quiet here without her!"

"I bet it is. Well, I should let you get to sleep, it's what? 2am there? Shouldn't you be asleep already?"

"Well, I said I hate sleeping alone. Anyway, I can sleep on Victor's time tomorrow. I'm pretty sure there won't be that much for me to do once I get in there."

"Yeah. Good plan Eric."

"Yep, I'm full of good plans."

"Night then. Love you."

"Love you too Sookie."

And then he was gone, and I felt empty. I finished tidying up the toys, cleaned up the kitchen, watched a bit of TV and curled up in my empty bed repeating my new mantra 'Eric is not Bill' over and over in my head.

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Thanks again for the reviews and alerts! That's all I have to say really.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

EPOV

It was really fucking odd suddenly finding myself back in the office in Shreveport. Inside I was feeling like I really didn't belong any more, and yet no one seemed to have noticed I had even gone. The guy on the desk downstairs didn't say anything, the woman in reception just said "Hi, Eric" and even Sandy didn't say anything more than "Victor will be out in a minute." It was like time here had stopped and I'd only been gone a week not several months.

First up I was stuck in Victor's office for an interminable length of time while he droned on and on about his plans for expanding the office and what contracts he wanted to get. Like I really gave a fuck now. I think he just wanted someone there so he didn't have to talk to himself. I wondered if we should introduce him to Amelia. And then of course I started to wonder what Amelia and Felicia and Sookie were doing now. I tried to work out the time. They probably weren't up yet. Hopefully they weren't up yet.

It took me a minute to work out that Victor was actually talking to me now. "So, Eric, are you ready to get started?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah. So just tell me what I have to sign and I'll get out of here."

Victor frowned. "No, I thought you understood. We need to do a full handover. I need you to go over everything you were working on and make sure Clancy knows what he's doing."

Now it was my turn to frown. From what I knew of Clancy I wasn't convinced he ever knew what he was doing. "Oh, OK" I said. "But that won't take more than a day, surely?"

"Mmm" said Victor. "And then there was that other contract I was talking about before…" Shit I thought, I really should have been paying attention. "I would like your help with that." Victor leaned forward in his seat and narrowed his eyes. "You know, Eric, we've been very accommodating with your need to, uh…_find yourself _in New Zealand, or whatever the fuck it was you were doing down there. I'm sure you can find it in yourself to help me out just a little here. I like to think that we've always worked well together. I'd hate to see that end now."

Great, just fantastic. Basically I was at Victor's beck and call until he decided to release me. I'd turned up thinking I was just signing shit and leaving again. Now I was actually stuck working here. Worse than that, I had to babysit Clancy. I should have just Fed-exed that fucking laptop and never come back here. Maybe if I'd changed my name Victor wouldn't have been able to track me down? How much do new identities cost anyway?

I have to stop fantasising about running out of the office and just getting on a flight back to Auckland because Victor has led me out of his office and he's now talking to Clancy and telling him I'll be 'mentoring' him for the week. For the week, fuck. I look at Clancy, and then I look out the window, wishing I was anywhere else but here.

Somehow I make it through the day without actually throwing Clancy out the window. The man is a moron. I can't decide whether Victor really doesn't know this or whether he's making me deal with him just to make my life harder.

The most interesting thing out of the whole day was catching up on the office gossip. Apparently I was the hot topic there for a while and Clancy took great joy in telling me all the rumours that had been circulating about me. My personal favourite was the one where I'd got amnesia and was stuck in New Zealand until I could remember who I was. Fuck, these people must watch a lot of movies.

Apparently though, I'd been eclipsed as the source of gossip when Chow and Indira had split up at Christmas. Which I guess explained why I'd seen both of them around the office, but never together. I'd just been thankful they weren't mauling each other like the last time I'd set eyes on them, but to know they'd split up that was kind of…sad. It seemed wrong somehow. I guess you can never tell about other people's relationships.

And when the day was over, I got to go home to my boring empty apartment and eat shit food and watch shit TV. At least it had stopped smelling quite so badly now that the cleaners had been back.

I'd had some boxes delivered and I started packing my stuff up, working out what I wanted to send to Auckland. There wasn't much really. I had a lot of…things, but nothing that meant that much. I'd been happy without all this shit for a while now, so it was quite obvious I didn't really need it. Everything I did need I'd left behind to come back here.

SPOV

One side-effect of Eric going away was I got a new best-friend. When she was home Amelia barely left my side. And although I was kind of aware of the fact it wasn't going to help me win any mothering awards, I wasn't above taking advantage of it.

We still had long summer evenings and I started letting Amelia sit up a bit later at night and watch TV with me. Although I soon realised she didn't quite take everything the same way I did. We watched one of those shows about the SPCA rescuing animals and I was worried she would be upset by the injured animals. She wasn't, but a segment on some kittens needing a home made her worry that I was going to give Bob away. I told her no way was Bob going anywhere, but she still looked a bit worried.

We got quite into Masterchef, or 'the cookers' as Amelia called it. Although I did get a lot of questions about why my food didn't look like that. I had to admit that some of our dinners had been a bit lacking. Without Eric to cook for I had kind of given up a bit. One night I think Amelia and I had eaten crackers and brie and some peaches for dinner. We weren't going to die, I guess, but the catering wasn't quite up to the standard it had been.

I couldn't help but feel that I'd been down this road before.

It was hard not to mope. I kept looking at the clock and wondering what Eric was doing. Battling my way around Pak N Save and folding laundry just didn't use up enough of my brain-power to stop me really fretting about him. And so, while Amelia was off at pre-school I headed back to see Tara again.

She was back putting another coat of paint on her front door. "Hi" she called out as I got Felicia out of the car. We were driving Eric's car today, so it was actually a little difficult to lift her out as it was so much higher off the ground.

We walked up the steps to where Tara was. "JB's taken the kids to the pools for the afternoon, which is why it's so quiet here" she said.

"Yeah, it is kind of…peaceful."

"So, still lonely, huh?" Tara asked.

"Well yeah I am."

"So you're not going to make me say it again?"

"What? That Eric is not Bill? No, I remember that one."

"Good, so we can talk about more important things. Do you really like the blue? Because I honestly think green would have been better, because then it would have gone with the roof. But Charlotte had her heart set on the blue and of course JB sided with her. You know how girls are with their dads?" She looked at me. "Oh…sorry" she said.

"No, no, it's fine. I mean, you know, we're past the Bill thing…I think."

"Mmm, well come on in then. I'll put the kettle on."

We trudged inside and Tara went to have a rummage in a cupboard and pulled out a box of slightly battered Duplo for Felicia to play with. I guess she was a bit tired with having her drawers re-arranged every time we visited. Felicia attempted a high-five, but got confused and palmed herself in the face. It didn't seem to bother her.

Tara made us both tea and we sat down and watched Felicia throw the Duplo around.

"So, that bad, huh?" Tara asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You're really, really quiet."

"Yeah, I am. Now, I know that EricisnotBill and all of that, but…" I stopped and stared at my tea for a bit.

"But?" Tara prompted.

"Do you think I should have let Eric buy me an engagement ring?" I looked at Tara.

"So, what? You've been lying there at night worrying about this? About a ring?"

"Well, amongst other things…" Yeah, I suddenly realised that maybe it sounded a bit dumb.

"Honestly Sookie, I don't know. It's really between you and Eric."

"Oh." I guess I'd been hoping that Tara would have some great advice again.

"You're a big girl, Sookie; you have to figure these things out yourself. I'm not marrying him so I can't tell you."

"Yeah, I guess. It's just that it made a lot of sense before, not to get one, you know. Because it seems…a lot of money to spend on something just for me. But now, now that Eric's not here, I just remember how hurt he looked when I said no. I mean, I think he understood why, but he still looked hurt."

"Yeah, well I can understand that. He wanted to get you something and you rejected it."

"I didn't reject it!" I was starting to wonder why I'd thought Tara would be comforting. I always forget that comforting isn't her default mode. "Eric understood that it didn't make sense to buy one."

"Well you kind of did reject it. I mean, I'm sure he understood and everything, but you know…it's the gesture, isn't it? Right or wrong it's a gesture that's kind of expected. I mean, if I came over for dinner and brought flowers, would you tell me it's a waste of money because they're going to die in a day or so and they would have looked prettier still in someone's garden?"

"Well, no…"

"Or if when you'd had Felicia you'd given me back the shoes I bought her because they were tiny and no baby really needs bright red mary-janes and it was just a waste to spend money on something that served no purpose other than to look pretty?"

"But those things don't cost as much as a ring!"

Tara shrugged. "I wasn't talking about money. I was talking about accepting a gift. A gift that has meaning. I don't know, I mean it's up to you, but if you're worrying about whether you did the right thing then maybe that's your answer."

"Poo" I said. Maybe she was right.

"Poo, indeed" said Tara. "But you know, you can sort it out when he comes back."

"Yeah, I guess we can."

"And now, tell me truly, is the blue OK on the door? Because if I went and bought some green today I could maybe get one coat on before everyone else gets home."

I rolled my eyes. "The blue is fine Tara."

The next night we went to Calvin and Judith's for dinner which was even better for keeping us entertained. Judith had a big pile of wedding planning stuff in the corner of the dining room and she would wander over to it every so often and check her list of things to do. Apparently the bridesmaid dresses were causing the most problems at the moment. Sarah hadn't turned up for fittings, Caroline's was being made from her measurements sent over from Sydney and Judith was a bit concerned it wasn't going to be right. Her best friend Taryn was five month's pregnant and was liable to bust out of her dress. And Portia was in a snit that she hadn't been asked to be a bridesmaid.

Boy that was going to be a fun day. I noticed Calvin was lying low and turned up to eat and then disappeared again. He asked when Eric was back, I guess so they could sort out the running thing, and didn't say a lot else.

Jessica and Amelia had a minor war in the corner over toys, which Felicia watched with interest, making the occasional squeal of encouragement. I guess it wouldn't be long before she'd want to join in.

Oh, and I somehow volunteered to hold a joint birthday party for Jessica and Felicia at my house. Judith was worried that she wouldn't be able to do anything for Jessica and given that their birthdays were five days apart I offered to hold one party for the two of them. Hopefully I would have Eric back to help by the time that rolled around because I asked Judith who she wanted to invite, thinking there'd be one or two people, and her list looked quite long. I guess they did know quite a few mums and kids from the daycare where Judith worked, but even so. It was going to be crowded in our place.

I made the mistake of asking Judith who was giving her away, and she looked really sad. "I'd always thought it would be Bill" she said. Oh yeah, I really had to stop forgetting that he was her big brother. "But instead it's Uncle Tom. Have you met him?"

"Um, maybe once? At our wedding?" I couldn't really remember Lorena's brother. He lived in Dargaville and didn't come down to Auckland very often.

"Yeah. I really wished it could have been someone who actually meant something to me, but Bill's gone and I never really knew my dad. I was so little when he left." She stared off into the distance and I couldn't help but wonder if I'd be having this conversation with Amelia in 25 year's time. I really hoped not.

EPOV

The time at work was fucking miserable, but it was even worse when I was home alone. I'd always kind of liked hanging out by myself, but maybe it was just that I was used to it. Maybe it was just easier when there weren't people around. There was nothing I could fuck up.

Clancy was proving to be a total pain in the ass. He couldn't do the simplest shit and he was just making the whole process harder. Mostly he just seemed to want me to tell him how to pick up women. Frankly, if he'd reached his age and didn't have a fucking clue, he was never going to have a fucking clue. It wasn't my job to sort out his life for him.

I was tempted to tell him he should move to New Zealand, as the women there were better, but I didn't trust the fucker not to actually go through with it. And I couldn't decide what would be the worst thing about that, Clancy following me around Auckland, or Victor being really pissed off with me because he'd lost another member of his staff.

So I was hiding out in the break room, scrolling through the photos I had on my phone and hoping like fuck Clancy didn't decide to track me down, when Indira suddenly appeared in front of me.

"Hi, Eric" she said.

"Oh, hey Indira." I wasn't sure what else to say to her. I felt bad about the times they'd taken me out and how I'd behaved. I felt bad about the fact she'd broken up with Chow.

"Cute photos" she said looking over at my phone.

"Yeah. That's Amelia, on the trampoline we got her for Christmas. She's 3, like going on 23. And this one" I changed the view "is Felicia. She's going to be 1 next month and is almost walking. See, she's leaning on the coffee table there, but I think she's going to walk soon. I hope I don't miss it." I really hoped I didn't.

Indira sat down next to me. "Wow, so you're like really settled down, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess. I'm getting married…soon. See, this photo's Sookie. I'm not supposed to show it to anyone because she's only wearing housework clothes." I gave up talking and just stared at the photo.

"Yeah, I remember her from that bank. And I saw her at the drinks. You guys looked happy."

I shrugged. "Yeah, we are. But then so did you and Chow. I mean last time I saw you, you looked…" well, from what I remember she had her tongue down his throat so I guess that meant she was happy.

I didn't get to finish though because Indira just said "Well, appearances can be deceiving. It hadn't been that great for a while. I think all that time together in New Zealand, just kind of…pushed us over the edge."

"Oh." Fuck, I didn't know what to say to that. "I'm sorry." I guess that would work.

"Thanks Eric. I'm glad something good came out of that trip though, you look like you got what you wanted." She smiled at me.

"Yeah, yeah I did. I got everything I wanted." I just hoped I still had it.

"You'll be back there soon."

"Yep." I would, I would fucking move heaven and earth to get back there.

"So, want to come and get some lunch with me? I think I saw Clancy looking for you just before and I figured you might want to avoid him for a while."

"Yeah. Yeah, actually that sounds good. Come on then." I stood up and followed Indira out to the elevators.

By the time it got to Friday I was ready to either throw Clancy or myself out one of the windows of the office, just to put an end to my misery. Although I liked me more than I liked him, so I'd probably throw him. Followed by Victor and a few other people. Chow was one of them; he was proving to be a right ass now he was single. I felt sorry for Indira having to witness that. No wonder she was thinking about moving back to Canada.

I decided to make a mid-afternoon phone call so I could talk to Amelia as well and try to take some of the pressure off Sookie. Surely if Amelia heard my voice she'd realise I was coming back.

When Sookie put her on the phone she was suspicious though "Where are you Eric?" she asked.

"Shreveport" I said.

"Where's that?"

"Um, in the States."

"Is that in New Zealand?"

"No, you're in New Zealand."

"I'm in Auckland!"

"That's in New Zealand, Ames."

"Humph" she sounded a bit dubious.

"Its winter here" I said, trying to think of something to keep the conversation going.

"It's not winter, it's hot. We've been in the pool. Felicia takes all the cups and she hit me! Really hard!"

"I don't think she did, she's only a baby."

"She's MEAN"

"Ames, she's not mean. She's your sister and you love her."

"Humph." Boy, Sookie really did have her work cut out for her at the moment.

"You shouldn't hit people" Amelia said.

"Well, she doesn't know she's doing it."

"Yes, she does. She wants to kill me!"

"Amelia, she doesn't. You're just being dramatic."

"What's dramatic?"

"Um…over-the-top?"

"Top of what?"

I was stumped. "So, was the pool good?" I asked.

"Yeah, apart from Felicia. She took all…" Oh yeah, I remembered where this went last time and I figured I'd better cut her off. "And it's sunny?" I asked.

"Yeah. Mum says it's too hot to cook. We're having salad for dinner."

"Well that sounds nice."

"I don't like salad."

"Yes you do."

"Do I?

"Definitely."

"OK."

There was silence for a bit then I said "So, do you want to put your mom, uh, mum on then?"

"OK"

"Bye Amelia…" but I think she'd already gone as I could hear her yelling "Mum!"

"Right, it's back to me" Sookie said.

"OK. Amelia sounds the same as ever."

"Yeah, she is. She's equal parts hard work and good company really."

"Yeah. You're lucky to have her around."

"Yeah, I guess. HEY! Amelia, DO NOT do that to Felicia! Got it? Sorry about that, she doesn't like the whole cruising thing. I think Felicia is not supposed to be upright in her world."

"Mmm, so no walking yet?"

"No, I tried to get her to push the wooden cart around, but she wasn't buying it. She went back to throwing things."

"Oh. Bob bring you anything nice recently?"

"Mmm, not so much. I had a cricket last night, and there was a skink the other day but that's it. I think it's too hot for him to hunt. He's mostly trying to get a breeze through his tummy-fur."

"Uh-huh. So, any plans for the weekend?" I wanted then to be doing something nice. But I also kind of wanted Sookie to say she was just sitting at home and waiting for me to get back.

"Oh, um I've decided to bury the hatchet with Lorena and we're having her for morning tea tomorrow."

"That's brave."

"Yeah, well. I guess she is their Nana. And I think she's learnt her lesson. So we'll see. But other than that, no plans for the weekend. What about you?"

"Nothing. Might go to the gym and get a last use or two out of my membership. Oh, and I have to go out tonight."

"Out?"

"Yeah, something Victor fucking organised as a farewell for me. It's going to be a drag. Honestly, these people are the fucking pits. I cannot wait to get away." I was counting down the hours.

"How much longer?"

"Don't know. I think Clancy's finally fucking getting it, but Victor wants me to go over some stuff with him next week. Run some calculations for a new client, which seems a fucking waste of time if I'm not staying around, but apparently Victor thinks I'm the most qualified, and I'm here now, so fuck, I don't know."

"But…you're still only going to be there two weeks, right?" Sookie sounded worried. I was worried too.

"Yeah, I'm sure I will be. I'm sure it will all get done. I'll be home soon." Fuck, I'd just walk out if I had to. What did I care?

I'd been standing outside the office building to make the call, and I could see Clancy appear, obviously looking for me. "Shit, I'm going to have to go."

"OK. Well have a good weekend. And, um…have fun tonight, at the drinks or whatever…"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll um...maybe call you after that OK?" I could see Clancy waving at me trying to get my attention.

"Yeah, OK. I'd like that." Sookie just sounded like she was trying to be happy. She really wasn't. I wasn't either.

"Love you Sookie. Don't forget that, will you?"

"No, no I know. I love you too."

"OK. I'll talk to you later on. Bye."

"Bye Eric." I shut down the phone and went to see what crisis Clancy had created now.

**Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N - Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

EPOV

I really didn't want to go out with Victor and the other guys from work. As much as I hated having to sit in an empty apartment every night, I didn't think going to a fucking bar with a bunch of people I didn't really like was going to be that much of an improvement.

So I hung around my desk for as long as I could, hoping that maybe something would happen and I wouldn't have to go. I could feel Clancy hovering anxiously though, obviously worried that he was somehow going to miss out. He'd been looking forward to this ever since Victor had first mentioned it. I didn't understand what was so fucking exciting about the event, but maybe Clancy didn't get out much.

My plan to just pretend to be busy didn't really help when Victor turned up and said "Eric? You ready?" There was really nowhere to hide and I couldn't invent anything I really needed to be doing, so I simply said "Yeah", shut down my laptop, and the followed the others out to the elevators.

Luckily no one much cared that I didn't seem enthused to be doing something which was nominally arranged in my honour. They all seemed to have their own agendas. Chow was trying to re-claim his lost youth, Clancy seemed happy to be hanging out with the cool kids, Victor's annoying assistant, Bruno, seemed to be there in order to suck up to Victor, and Victor, well, he just seemed to be there to make my life fucking miserable. Although I'm not sure he saw it that way. He thought he was doing me a favour.

"So, Eric" he said, once we we'd found a table at the bar he'd taken us to, and we were working through our first drinks. "Are you really sure about this plan to move to New Zealand? It seems a bit fucking extreme. I'm sure if you needed a change of scene you could have done something less dramatic. I would have looked at moving you to another office or something."

"Yeah, uh, thanks Victor. But no, I'm sure this is what I want to do." I replied.

"Because of that woman."

"Sookie.

"I'm sure you could have found someone in the States. She's just a woman."

"Yeah…I'm happy with her though. We're getting married."

Victor pulled a face and took a sip of his drink. "Married. Waste of time. Isn't it Chow?"

Chow nodded, and then went back to staring at some of the women sitting at the bar. Fucker, what does he know anyway? From what Indira had said he wasn't exactly the best husband. I was sure I could do so much fucking better than he had.

"I never had you pegged as the marrying type, Eric" Victor continued. God, what was his problem?

"People change" I said. And I had, if this trip back to Shreveport had shown me anything, it was that I was not the same guy who'd left here.

"That's bullshit, Eric. It doesn't happen. People just compromise. It's seems a fucking shame when you had so much going for you."

I decided not to respond to that although I did remember Indira's comment about appearances being deceiving. I just had a drink and hoped it would all be over soon.

It wasn't though. The evening dragged on. Everyone else was fucking drinking like there was no tomorrow as Victor was paying for it, and I was trying to stick to one beer, although I'd been given a few others which were collecting on the table in front of me.

Clancy had decided to adopt me as his new best friend and kept trying to get me to go and talk to women with him. "Fuck off Clancy" I said. "Take Chow with you, he looks fucking desperate enough."

Clancy frowned. "No, I need you. Come on. Stop being such a fucking drag. We're supposed to be having a good time."

"Yeah, well. I'm not the fucking entertainments director. Now piss off and annoy someone else." In the hope that Clancy would get the message I went to the bar and got a Coke. And then I just stayed there, wondering whether or not I'd be able to leave, if I just started slowly making my way towards the door. I looked back to where I'd been sitting and that dick Bruno was just sitting there watching me. Yeah, just my luck that Victor fucking had someone spying on me.

I stayed at the bar and tried to work out what to do next, when some really skinny blonde girl came over and stood next to me. "Hi Eric" she said brightly. Fuck, I thought, no name tag. Who the fuck was this?

"Hello" I said, hoping she wouldn't expect anything else.

"I haven't seen you in, like, forever!"

"Uh-huh. I've moved. I'm just back for a couple of weeks." I really hated giving even this much information out, but I just wanted her to go away.

"Oh. Where'd you move to?"

"New Zealand." I hoped to God this one had at least heard of it.

"Oh" she said. "Like, um, Lord of the Rings?"

Well that was something I guessed. "Yeah. There." I had another drink and hoped she'd fuck off. No such luck however.

"So, um, tell me what it's like there. I've always wanted to go, you're so lucky." She just kept standing there, waiting for an answer, or maybe an invitation to go there with me, I wasn't really sure.

"It's nice. Mainly I like it because my wife is from there." Maybe that would work I thought. She looked at my left hand and frowned. I probably needed to buy myself a ring, and then maybe I could be left in peace.

Just then skinny girl's friend appeared at her side and said "Ginger! Come on, you're supposed to be ordering the drinks and we're waiting!"

I tried to work out if Ginger was any more memorable now I knew her name. Not really. Maybe the friend would drag her off. Instead Ginger just looked pissed and said "Belinda, you just tell the others to wait up or get their own damn drinks, can't you see I'm talking to my friend Eric?" Belinda looked at me and broke into a huge smile. "Hi Eric!" she said brightly, completely forgetting to be annoyed at Ginger.

"Hi" I said.

Belinda looked at me for a minute then she turned to Ginger. "So, is that, you know, _that_ Eric?" she asked Ginger.

"Yeah, he's that Eric." Ginger replied.

"Really? _That_ Eric? Actually in the flesh?"

"Uh-huh" Ginger said, looking like the cat that got the canary. Or at least a skink.

"Ohhhh, right" Belinda said. Obviously the whole 'that Eric' thing meant something to her. I tried to muster up the energy to be intrigued, but I really wasn't. I was really bored.

"He's been living in New Zealand, because his wife is from there." Ginger said, like I was some kind of museum exhibit she was giving a lecture on. I was starting to think my actual presence here wasn't required. I looked over to see if Bruno was still watching me. No, but fucking Clancy was. Well he was staring at Ginger anyway. No fucking chance for me to slip away with him watching.

"Hang on, you never said he was married" Belinda exclaimed.

"Well I didn't know! But I don't think he's still married. There's no ring!" Ginger pointed at my hand. Yeah, needed to get one of those.

"Ohhhh, yeah" Belinda said. "You could be right." They exchanged a glance that obviously had some deeper meaning. I couldn't have cared less. I just wanted them gone so I decided to butt into the conversation.

"I am" I said, and they turned to look at me. "Married" I added, because both of them looked confused. Maybe they had forgotten I could actually speak, I wasn't sure.

"Oh" Ginger said, sadly. I guess I was ruining whatever fantasy world she was living in. "But you weren't like, six months ago, were you?"

"Um. No, I wasn't then." I hoped that would cheer her up a bit, knowing that she hadn't hooked up with a married man. At least I assumed I'd hooked up with her. I really didn't have a fucking clue, but she did know my name. Shit, maybe I'd slept with the friend? Although the friend didn't seem to know me. Fuck, I had no clue. Neither of them seemed familiar at all.

Instead of cheering up though, she just looked more depressed. "Oh" she said in a really small voice. "Oh, OK then. Well it was nice to see you again Eric."

"Yeah, and nice to see you again…um, Ginger." I turned and headed back to the table. I could hear Belinda saying "See! I keep telling you, if you let them do that with you of course they won't marry you. For fuck's sake Ginger, you missed out totally with that one! Now let's get the damn drinks and see who else is here."

I got back to the table and Clancy leaned over to me "Who was that?" he asked.

"Ginger" I said, having at least learned that much from the conversation.

"Is she yours?" he asked.

"What?"

"Are you going to have her? Like, tonight?"

"Clancy, I'm not fucking having anyone tonight. I don't even fucking like her."

"Well then, can I have her?"

"If she wants you, you can do what you like with her. I do not give a fuck."

"But you have to introduce me."

"What?"

"You have to introduce me."

"Go and fucking introduce yourself." I was frustrated about being here in the first place and Clancy wasn't making my mood any better.

"I don't think it will work if I just go over there. I think you have to introduce me."

"No." I couldn't understand why Clancy wasn't getting the message.

"Jesus, Eric! You fucking owe me!"

"For what?"

"For taking on all the shit you're leaving behind when you go back to the end of the fucking earth. Fuck Eric! It's not all about you! Some of us already had fucking jobs and now I have yours to do as well. Victor's not cutting me any fucking slack. So make yourself fucking useful and at least help me hook up tonight." Having finished his tirade Clancy downed the rest of his drink and sat there looking at me.

Fuck. As much as I thought Clancy was a complete moron he did have a point, I was kind of leaving him in the shit. I sighed and looked over at Ginger and the friend who were still standing at the bar arguing with each other. "Come on then" I said to Clancy as I stood up.

We walked over to where Ginger and friend were standing. "Hi" I said and both women's head whipped around to look at me. "Hi Eric!" Ginger said hopefully.

"Yeah, um, hi again. This is Clancy. Clancy, this is Ginger. I'll leave you guys to it." With that I turned on my heel and walked back to my seat. I figured that covered the bare minimum of introduction and it was all Clancy's problem from there.

I also figured maybe another half an hour and I could decently leave, having sat out my time. Victor, Chow and Bruno were still drinking and making lewd comments about the women in the bar. I just sat and pretended I was somewhere else.

But when I stood up and said "Thanks, Victor. It's been great but I have to go now", Victor just frowned at me and said "Sit down Eric."

"Um, no, I really need to get going. I'll see you Monday." I was really hoping that Monday would be my last day. Or maybe Tuesday at the latest.

"What the fuck for Eric? Shit, you're not married yet. Sit back down and fucking enjoy yourself."

I sat down. I didn't want to piss Victor off, not at this late stage. I had one, or two, maybe three days left working there and I just wanted them to go smoothly. I figured we'd only be here another 30 minutes, an hour tops maybe. And then I could go. It wouldn't be that bad.

And when I got back to my apartment, I could ring Sookie. Maybe I could get her to try phone sex with me? I was sure with a bit of persuasion she'd give it a go. So that was something to look forward to.

And I really thought I was going to get my wish, because after about another 40 minutes Victor did stand up and say "Right, let's move on." Chow and Bruno stood up as well.

Yay, I thought. It's finally over. I'm getting released. "OK, I'll see you" I said, as we moved towards the door.

Victor looked at me. "You can't go yet Eric. We're just moving on. Strip club's next. Come on."

Oh, this didn't seem like a good plan at all. 'Uh, I'm not really into the whole strip club thing, Victor. You know, the, um, paying for it and shit…" It was never as good as you thought it was going to be, the women were all a bit desperate looking. And I'd already had to endure spending most of my evening watching Chow leer at the women drinking in the bar, I didn't want to spend any time at all watching him stuff singles in the g-strings of a bunch of strippers.

But obviously Victor didn't care what I wanted. "Look, Eric" he said. "Think of this as your last big night out. You're the one so set on getting married and settling down, which, if you ask me, is a total fucking waste of time. Now, if we're prepared to do this for you, you better fucking be grateful, OK?"

I didn't really fucking see why I should be grateful. I was perfectly aware they were all using me for their own agenda; they just wanted the excuse to go out. But I was still a bit worried about Victor's motives. I still had yet to sign anything at work that actually said I was leaving, and I was slightly worried he might just make me stay a bit longer. I could always just walk out, but I really didn't want it to come to that. I wanted to leave on good terms. I didn't want a black mark on my work record. I wanted this all to be amicable. I thought surely all I'd have to do is sit there for a bit and then I could go, once they were in the strip club they'd be so distracted they'd lose interest in me.

And so I went. We'd lost Clancy because he had obviously hooked up with Ginger, and from what they were doing in a booth in the back of the bar there was a good chance that she'd be doing with him whatever the fuck it was that her friend had warned her not to do with guys anymore. At least one of us was happy.

I however, was as miserable as fuck sitting in some low-rent strip club with the fucking three musketeers. This had to be one of the worst nights of my life. Victor had made sure to tell as many of the staff as possible that this was my bachelor party and so every 30 seconds another random stripper with scrawny arms and wonky boobs would drape herself all over me and offer me a lapdance. It didn't matter how many I turned away, they just kept fucking coming. Victor offered to pay for me, but I managed to put him off that idea. I did have to accept the cognac and the cigar he insisted on purchasing for everyone.

Chow, Bruno and Victor weren't above taking my rejects up on their offers though and all of them kept disappearing off to the private booths. Eventually it got to a point in the night where it was just me and a very worse for wear Chow left sitting there, and Chow wasn't really paying attention to me, he was far too distracted by a dancer he was slightly infatuated with, a really masculine looking woman called Marnie. She was proving only too willing to take the money he kept waving her way. That was not going to end well. I just hoped that he wasn't going to spend everything he had on her; earlier in the evening he'd agreed to buy my car off me and that was the only good thing that had come out of the whole fucking miserable night.

So while Chow was thoroughly distracted watching Marnie I said "It's been great, I'll see you Monday" and walked out without waiting for a reply. I couldn't believe how great I felt once I got into the chilled night air.

I got a cab and got back to my apartment as quick as I could and dialled Sookie. I looked at the time, shit, I thought, I hope she isn't already asleep.

"Hello?" she said when she answered, sounding really sleepy. Fuck, I had woken her up.

"Hi. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"No, it's fine. I must have dozed off. Jeez, you're up early. Is that to go to the gym?"

I looked at the clock. It was fucking 5.30 in the morning. How the fuck had I been out for that long? "Uh, no" I said. "No, I've just got in now."

"Oh. You were out late." She still sounded sleepy, and I couldn't tell if she was accusing me or anything.

"Yeah. Um, Victor was determined to celebrate for some fucking reason. And I got dragged along with them."

"Uh-huh." Yeah, Sookie wasn't really sounding too impressed.

I continued. "I would have left them all earlier, when they left the bar, but Victor made a big deal about how he was doing this for me and I should be fucking grateful, because basically I think he saw this as some kind of fucking bachelor party, so I felt like I had to go to the strip club with them, and now it's fucking nearly morning and I feel like shit and I'm sorry I woke you up. The whole night was a train-wreck from start to finish."

"Strip club?"

"Um, yeah. I couldn't get out of it." Fuck, I suddenly realised I'd probably dug myself a huge fucking hole with that statement.

"They forced you to go to a strip-club? What, like held you down and carried you there?"

"Well, no. It was more like a guilt thing. And a veiled threat that I won't be allowed to finish working or something…" I trailed off. That had been what Victor had suggested, hadn't it? Or had I mis-read him? Shit, I was starting to doubt myself and I realised that what I was saying did sound really lame even to myself. Sookie no doubt thought I was making it all up. "Are you mad?" I asked. "That I went with them?"

Sookie was silent for a moment. I hated that I couldn't see her face. "Well, I don't really care about the strip-club" she said, eventually. "But I think it's a bit rich that you're blaming them for _making _you go. I doubt they were really dragging you kicking and screaming were they, Eric?"

"Well, no, but I didn't feel like I had a choice…"

"What else didn't you have a choice about?" Fuck, she sounded pissed.

"What do you mean?"

"Were you drinking?"

"Well, only a bit. Just because…but I'm not fucking drunk if that's what you mean." Now I was a bit pissed. Sookie wasn't here; she couldn't judge me for what I had or hadn't done.

"No, I can tell that Eric." Now she sounded defensive. "But I don't know, you don't seem to have been letting these other guys push you around a bit tonight and I don't know why. You're perfectly capable of making your own decisions I would have thought so blaming them just seems a cop out. But have it your way. They made you, poor you."

There was silence for a minute, and then I said "So are you mad?" I asked again. It was like poking a bear I realised, but I just couldn't fucking stop myself.

"Not really. Just, I don't know. Disappointed maybe. I guess you're allowed to go out and have a big night out though. You're young."

Fuck, I really hated it when she threw the age thing at me. She made it sound like I had some kind of weird disability just because I was younger than she was. And I wasn't really. I didn't feel like I was that young. Sometimes I didn't feel like I'd ever been young.

I decided to move on. "So what did you guys do today?" I asked.

"Um, well it was Saturday so we hung out here, went to the park. Amelia and I had a fight over her clothing, but then we made up and I gave us both pedicures. Our toenails are purple now. Amelia picked the colour. Felicia threw Amelia's Barbie off the deck and World War Three broke out and then it was bedtime."

"Oh, OK." It sounded so much better than the fucking night I'd had, but I didn't think saying that to Sookie would be such a good idea about now.

"So what are you doing for the rest of weekend?" I asked her.

"Well, Lorena's coming tomorrow as I said. Then I don't know. Might try to get out of the house for a bit. Maybe a picnic dinner at the beach at Pt Chev or something."

That sounded really good to me. "Bacon and egg pie?" I asked.

"Mmm, maybe. You're really the one who eats it. Might just do sandwiches. What about you?"

"Oh, well there's the gym, because I have to clear out of here so the realtor can do an open home or something. And then I guess I have to amuse myself for a bit in Shreveport. Pack shit up. Don't know. Oh, and I'm moving to a hotel mid-week it looks like."

"A hotel?"

"Yeah, well they think this place will look better empty, rather than with a heap of boxes of my shit around so the realtor basically told me to clear out."

"Oh. OK. That sounds nice."

"Yeah, not really."

There was silence again then Sookie said "Well, I'd better get to sleep. Not sure when everyone is going to get me up and demand breakfast."

"No, I guess not. OK, well 'night then. I love you." Saying that just didn't seem enough somehow for everything I felt for Sookie.

"Yeah, I love you too. "Night Eric. Get some sleep. You'll need it." And then she was gone. I wanted to know if she really did love me. I wanted her prove she loved me, but how could I get her to do that over the phone? I couldn't. I was stuck waiting another week to see her and find out. There was nothing I could do but go to sleep and hope it would be all over soon.

**Pt Chev is what we call Pt Chevalier, 'cos we're lazy. And even in it's longer form, we don't pronounce Chevalier correctly, we call it Chev-a-leer. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N Thanks again to everyone reading this, and a big thank-you to Northwoman who recommended Homestay as an Under the Radar fanfic in the Sookieverse! That made me feel special all day! **

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

SPOV

When I was woken up on Sunday morning by the shout of "Mum! Mum! MUM! Felicia wants to get UP!" it took me a while to work out whether or not the conversation with Eric had been a dream. I guess because I was asleep before and after he rang there was a bit of a dream-like quality to the whole thing.

There wasn't a lot of time to dwell on it though because I discovered Amelia had taken her stool into Felicia's room and was trying to lift her sister out of the cot. So that was a recipe for disaster, or at least a trip to the A&E clinic. "Amelia!" I yelled. "You can't do that!"

"But I'm the big sister, she's just a baby."

"She's still too big for you to pick up."

Amelia sighed. "I was helping. You let Eric pick her up, and that's helping."

"Well, Eric's bigger than you are. He's not going to drop her."

Amelia gave up arguing and stomped off. Felicia seemed none the worse for wear and just said "Ma ma ma ma ma ma!" to me.

When we were eating breakfast Amelia looked around. "Where's Eric?" she asked.

"Still in the States."

"Oh. I thought he was back."

"No, he's away for another week."

Amelia looked incredulous. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Is he coming back on a plane?"

"Yep."

"I've never been on a plane."

"No."

"Has Felicia been on a plane?"

"No."

"Have you?"

"Yes."

Amelia looked shocked. "You left me behind!" she wailed.

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did! You went on a plane and I didn't and you left me behind!"

"Amelia, it was before you born. I haven't been on a plane since I had you."

Amelia looked suspicious. "When?" she asked.

"Before you were born."

"When was that?"

"Well, you don't remember it because you weren't born."

Amelia sat and thought for a minute. I could tell she was struggling with the concept of a world that existed before she did. "I am borned though" she said.

"Well, yeah, you were born, and then I stopped going on planes." This was sad, because I liked planes. You'd have to if you were going to fly from Auckland to London on a semi-regular basis.

"Why?"

"Um, I just haven't been on holiday anywhere. It's expensive to go on a plane."

"Oh. But you'll still take me, won't you? On a plane?"

"Yeah, someday."

"And Felicia?"

"And Felicia, definitely. We can't leave her behind." Amelia looked a bit doubtful at that statement, like maybe if we left her at home we could ask the neighbours to come in and feed her like we would Bob.

"And Eric?"

"I guess so."

"Good, because he's been on a plane and we haven't." I was about to remind her I had been on a plane, but I remembered how that went before and decided to cut my losses and go with a nice non-committal "mmm-hmmm".

Amelia ran off with Felicia crawling behind her yelling "BA! BA!" and then it was quiet for the first time this morning and I could actually think about the phone conversation with Eric. Which had all been a bit odd really. I wasn't upset he'd been out, it sounded as though the people he worked with had wanted to take him out to celebrate, which was nice of them, so I didn't know why he'd felt the need to blame them for it all.

I really hoped he hadn't done anything stupid. Although, I guess the fact he rang me suggested nothing really bad had happened. I just wasn't sure what he wanted from me, it was something but I had no clue. Jeez, I thought, I wished I'd remembered that relationships were hard before I thought another one would be a good idea.

And then it hit me. Eric had said he was crap at relationships. Shit, he was probably taking all his cues from something like dumb sit-coms, the ones where the guys go to a strip club and try to hide it in hilarious ways because they'll get in trouble. That was the problem. He expected me to go off on him. And possibly I was a bit annoyed because I wasn't getting nights out, I was dealing with two kids and I couldn't see why he was all grumpy about his friends trying to have a good time with him.

Oh well, I thought. I'd just ring him later and tell him he's fine. In the meantime I had to get ready for Lorena's visit. I finished my coffee, which wasn't that great because I was back to instant now it was just me drinking it, and went to ice the chocolate cake we'd made the day before.

Amelia appeared just as I'd finished making the icing and yelled "Mum! I'll do it!" Great, I thought, I hope Lorena doesn't mind lumpy icing. Amelia wasn't actually too bad at it; she'd made most of the cake herself the day before. It was the One Egg Chocolate cake from the Edmond's cookbook which had been my standby too when I was a bored kid.

Cake iced, I got everyone ready and we went to pick up Lorena. It was a pain she'd stopped driving. At first she didn't drive at night, then she stopped going on the motorway, then she refused to drive out of her immediate suburb, make right-hand turns or negotiate round-a-bouts. Eventually she was walking or being driven everywhere and Judith made her sell her car.

All the way to Lorena's Amelia was chanting random words in an effort to help Felicia learn to speak. I wanted to say 'please don't bother because one of you is enough' but thought that wasn't fair on Felicia. It wasn't her fault she came second. So I was stuck listening to Amelia chant "Tree. Car. Gate. Truck…that's a word, isn't it Mummy?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Cloud. Grass. Dog. Tree. Boat…that's a word too, isn't it?"

"Yep."

"Ba! Dee! Dee!" Felicia interjected.

"Those are NOT words Felicia" Amelia lectured. "Cat, that's a word. And ball, and sky and happy, and sad…and…and Eric, that's a word too, right Mummy?"

"Yeah, but it's a person's name too."

"What person?"

"Eric!"

"Oh, yeah. But it's a word."

"It is."

"Dee! Dee! Dee!" said Felicia. I was really glad when I could park the car and let Lorena in and she could deal with Amelia on the way back to our place.

Amelia was of course excited to have Nana over. Lorena looked a lot less excited to be there. I just felt, well, virtuous. See, I thought. I can be the bigger person, I can let it go.

I made tea and suggested we sit on the deck as the day was so lovely. Lorena made a face but agreed. We went outside and she looked at the ottoman. "What on earth is that?" she asked.

"An ottoman. Eric bought it for me for Christmas."

"It's quite bright, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Where is…Eric, anyway?" Lorena looked around like she expected him to jump out at her.

"Oh, he's back in the States. He's had to go back to sell his house." I handed her a slice of cake and she looked at it suspiciously.

"Oh. And then he's coming back?"

"Well yeah. You know we're getting married?"

"Yes. I had heard that." Lorena made that sound like a rumour I'd just made up. She looked at my hands. "You haven't got a ring though."

"Well, no. I don't really need one."

"Mmm. Bill got you a lovely ring I remember."

"Yeah, that'll be Amelia's one day."

"Hmm." Lorena took a bite of her cake.

"Nana! Nana! Watch me on the trampoline!" Amelia went running across the lawn and climbed onto the trampoline, which I'd left unzipped.

Lorena looked for about 30 seconds then glanced at Felicia who was happily cruising along holding onto the seat at the edge of the deck. "Is she not walking yet?" Lorena asked.

"No, but I need her to hold off for another week at least, Eric will be annoyed if he misses it."

"I shouldn't think he'd care, Sookie" Lorena said. "She's not his. It's just sad Bill's not here to see her getting so big."

Now it was my turn to just go "mmm", while thinking that Bill didn't really give a stuff about her when she was a baby so I can't see him really caring that much about her learning to walk. On the other hand Eric was happy to stand there for ages while she held on to his legs, and he'd been trying to coach her to walk. Mostly though she just giggled at him.

I just sat and ate my cake. It was quite good if I said so myself. Eventually Amelia got tired of the tramp and came sprinting back across the lawn and I had to help her get through the gate to the deck. "Did you see me, Nana?" she asked.

"Yes, dear. Very good" Lorena managed.

"Look at my toenails! They're purple!"

"They are." Lorena pulled a face which luckily Amelia never noticed. Shit, I thought, she really should be careful or the only person here who really wants to be her friend will start disliking her too.

Amelia went running inside then arrived back out with her doctor's kit. "Nana! You need a check-up" she shouted. Unfortunately she tripped on the way back out and landed on her knees. "Fuck!" she yelled, before cheerfully jumping back up again and unpacking the blood pressure cuff. In the background Felicia yelled "Fa! Fa! Fa!" I was just glad she couldn't make 'K" sounds yet.

I glanced at Lorena who looked horrified, but didn't say anything. Amelia attached the blood pressure cuff to Lorena's arm. She looked at Lorena seriously. "You're heart's not beeping, Nana. You don't have any blood. You need to eat more chocolate cake and get some more blood." She looked at Lorena expectantly.

"Oh, no thanks sweetheart. I don't need any more."

"Yes, you do. You're dead. Eat some cake." Dr Compton was obviously not going to let her patient get out of this one. Lorena looked at Amelia and Amelia held her ground. Eventually Lorena said "Maybe just a small piece…"

I handed her another slice. "Good girl, Nana" Amelia said as Lorena took a bite. "Nana will be OK now, Mum" she said to me.

"Excellent. I'd hate Nana to get sick while she was here" I said, trying to keep a straight face.

"Not sick, Mum. Dead!" Amelia thought I was an idiot as well.

"Well that would be bad too" I agreed.

"Yeah, good thing I saved you, right Nana?" she asked Lorena, who just nodded.

After that Amelia lost interest in her Nana and I for a while so we made small talk about the wedding. Lorena was complaining that it was being held at the hottest time of the year, and in a church that Judith had picked because it was pretty rather than the church Lorena went to. Basically Judith had done it all wrong. I seemed to remember a lot of the details of my wedding to Bill had been arranged to suit Lorena and she still looked annoyed in the wedding photos, so I didn't think there was any pleasing her.

When an hour was up I could see Lorena started to get a bit antsy, so I packed everyone back into the car and we dropped Lorena off. She'd started complaining of feeling under the weather on the way back, which was to be expected I guessed. She'd probably be on the phone to Judith saying I'd poisoned her about five minutes after I dropped her off.

I drove us all back home and Amelia seemed a bit quiet. Felicia wasn't though "Ba! Ba! Dee. Dee. Fa! Fa!" she shouted from the backseat.

We got home and had some lunch, which Amelia just picked at. She had eaten a lot of the chocolate cake though. Mind you so had Felicia. Amelia had asked me if was OK to give her some after she'd already done it.

The afternoon was really hot. I had every door and window in the house open but there was no breeze. Felicia went down for a nap after I stripped her down to just a nappy, and Amelia wanted to go back out on the trampoline. She wasn't on there for very long though. Five minutes later she was back with me on the deck. She said "Mum, I feel funny."

"What do you mean by funny?" I asked, but she never answered. She just threw up all over herself and the deck.

So the next bit of the afternoon was a blur of trying to get Amelia cleaned up, the deck hosed down, holding a bowl for her while she threw up several times more and then trying to get her to just have sips of water, while she cried and cried about being thirsty. Unfortunately whatever she was drinking was coming straight back up. This wasn't good. Stomach bugs never are.

And of course I had to keep Felicia away from her as best I could and Felicia was incredibly curious about what was going on. I hoped to God she wasn't going to get it too.

I got Amelia into bed by about 6 o'clock. She was exhausted, but I wasn't sure how long she was going to last before the next round of vomiting hit. It was horrible watching your child go through that. I just wanted to make it all better for her.

I got Felicia fed and bathed and into her bed. She luckily still seemed OK. I was, however, feeling a bit blah. I picked at a cheese toasted sandwich for dinner and then tried to watch some TV, but I was feeling worse by the minute. About 8 o'clock I heard Amelia cry out and I had to strip her bed and change the sheets because she hadn't grabbed her bowl in time, poor thing.

By 9 o'clock I was kneeling beside the toilet in the ensuite throwing up myself. Crap, I thought. I'd really wanted to stay well for Amelia.

So I spent the night rushing between Amelia's room and the bathroom. Luckily she managed to get to her bowl after that, but she was crying and crying because she was thirsty and the tiny amounts of water I'd allow her weren't helping her, and were coming back up anyway. I knew I had to get well so I was too scared to drink anything myself and I just had to tough it out and stick to just rinsing my mouth.

By 5 o'clock in the morning I was exhausted. I'd thrown up about three times by that stage and I was really hoping that was my lot. I'd lost count of how many times Amelia had. I put her in bed with me and hoped for a bit of sleep, but of course Felicia was up with the birds.

I dragged myself out of bed and put the washing machine on, trying to get all the dirty clothes and bedding clean. I fed Felicia but was too scared to eat anything myself, and didn't really feel like it anyway. I needed supplies, and had to call Tara, who is petrified of stomach bugs. After I begged for a bit she agreed to drop off some plain potato chips, lemonade ice blocks and PowerAde. Which she did later on, basically knocking on the door and running off. Wuss.

Monday was hell. I stopped throwing up by mid-morning but Amelia was still losing everything that went in. She slept a lot though. I couldn't, I had Felicia to entertain, and no energy with which to do it. I lay on the floor watching her move around. I couldn't even hang the washing out, it all went in the dryer, and I soon had to do another load anyway.

I started to feel a bit better by early evening. Amelia had gone to bed still worryingly throwing up on a regular basis, but I had stopped. And I'd managed to keep some PowerAde and a few chips down. And then when I was putting her to bed Felicia threw up all over both of us.

Fuck, I thought. I could really do with being Eric about now.

EPOV

I managed to get a bit of sleep on Saturday morning before I had to get up and vacate my condo so the realtor could have free rein. I went to the gym, but although that occupied me physically, it didn't stop my mind wandering over the conversation I'd had with Sookie.

I couldn't figure out what had gone wrong. I'd wanted her to realise what a shitty time I was having without her and she'd just been pissed at me for going out. It wasn't even like I'd wanted to go out in the first place. I certainly hadn't wanted to go out and ogle a whole bunch of women who weren't her. I loved her. I wanted her on my side. She didn't get it. Fuck, she'd probably decided she didn't even need me anymore.

So after the gym I went to the movies hoping to kill a bit more time. I couldn't even tell you what I saw though. Mostly I was occupied with trying to picture Sookie's weekend. Fuck, I hoped that nothing bad happened when Lorena was there. I'd kill her if she upset Sookie again, or Amelia. Or any of them.

Saturday night was lonely as fuck. I ate disgusting fast food in my apartment and watched TV. I wanted to call Sookie but didn't know what to say. I hoped she'd call me, but she didn't. That just worried the fuck out of me.

Sunday was even worse. I had nothing to do and nowhere to go and all I could do was worry about why Sookie wasn't talking to me anymore. I decided I might as well take my car for one last drive, given I was handing it over to Chow on Monday. Fuck, I hoped he remembered he'd agreed to that on Friday night. And that he'd made it out of that strip club alive, because that Marnie looked like a handful.

So I drove around Shreveport. It looked the same as ever. There wasn't anything I was particularly attached to, so there was no where I really needed to say goodbye to. I just missed home. I wanted to be back with Sookie and the kids.

That's probably how I ended up wandering around a Toys R Us in what had to be Shreveport's shittiest strip-mall. I thought maybe I'd buy something nice for the kids. But I just felt worse after seeing all the other families in there. I wanted to be with my family. I wanted my family to want me back.

I was so fucking lonely. I didn't think Sookie realised how good she had it, to be the one at home with the people who loved her. Fuck, I really wanted to be her right now.

**Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Thanks again for all the lovely reviews! I so enjoy seeing them all and knowing that other people care about these two as well as me!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

SPOV

Sunday night had been bad, with both Amelia and I sick, but Monday night was worse. Amelia actually only threw up once, but I now had Felicia to deal with, and babies don't give you a warning before they throw up. And they cry, a lot. Mainly because they're thirsty, and it's a fine line between dehydration and giving them so much it all comes back up again.

After I cleaned up the carpet in Felicia's room, I grabbed a pillow and the duvet off my bed and made myself a little cocoon to sleep in on her bedroom floor. I was so tired that it didn't really matter where I slept. And I didn't get a lot of sleep at all.

Tuesday morning I felt like shit. Amelia was still pale, quiet and tired. And throwing up from time to time. I gave her some toast and marmite, but it came back up "My tummy didn't like it!" she wailed.

Felicia was slightly better than Amelia but I wasn't keen to try her on any solid food. I tried some formula but that only stayed down for a while.

I got Felicia to have a nap and put Amelia in the shower with me so we could get clean. She could only stand up for a while.

There was nothing for it; we were going to have to go to the doctors. As much as a pain as it was to get them there, it was only a two minute drive and it was free so I couldn't really complain.

So I rang for an appointment and later in the morning I loaded everyone in the car, and then managed to carry both of them, my bag and a plastic ice cream container in case of emergency vomiting up to the steps to the surgery. Amelia may not have been eating much in the last few days, but she still wasn't light and having one on each hip wasn't easy, but it's amazing what you can do when you have to.

As usual, we had to wait forever for the doctor. Our GP was lovely but always running late. And as I expected there wasn't much she could suggest, and neither of them were actually dehydrated yet. We just had to wait it out. I did get a prescription for some of that rehydration liquid for kids, so the next stop was the pharmacy, where apparently there would be a 15 minute wait at least because every old person in Mt Eden had decided to turn up there today.

So in desperation I dragged Amelia and pushed Felicia in her pushchair up the road to the DVD rental place. That perked Amelia up a bit. We left with about four Barbie movies, the two Chipmunk movies, and, bizarrely, Mama Mia. I didn't know that the soundtrack had been popular at daycare, but Amelia recognised the cover and was insistent that she wanted that one. She hadn't been insistent about much in the last couple of days, so I gave in.

Eventually we all got home and I could start getting some of the disgusting bubblegum flavoured liquid into the kids. And we could watch some movies. Thank God Felicia was willing to have an extra long nap because I think I nodded off on the couch while watching one of the Barbie movies.

By bedtime Amelia was brighter. She actually managed to keep some toast down. I was feeling OK, just tired, and could have eaten a proper dinner but I couldn't be bothered cooking just for me, so I had an omelette. Felicia had a bit of formula and filled a rather disgusting nappy.

We were getting there. Slowly.

EPOV

Monday morning I headed back into the office hoping that maybe it would be the last day or at least the second to last day. I was still worried that I hadn't heard from Sookie. I wondered what was happening. I figured maybe I should ring her and apologise or something. She was obviously pissed at me.

First up I had to face Clancy who I could see hovering around waiting for my arrival. "Hey Eric" he said coming over.

"Clancy" I replied, waiting to see what was coming.

"Um, you know that girl, Ginger?"

"Vaguely." I really hoped he wasn't going to ask me anything about her, like her last name, because I had no fucking clue.

"Do you think you could give me her phone number?"

"Uh, no."

"Why the fuck not? You said you didn't want her anymore?"

"I don't think I wanted her in the first place, but I don't fucking know her number if you must know."

"Oh, you don't? I thought that, well…you know…"

"You know what?"

"That you'd have them all. Phone numbers. Of women you'd hooked up with."

"Clancy, I think you've mistaken me for someone who gives a fuck. Why didn't you get her number anyway?"

"Well…" Clancy looked down at the ground. "Um…she just kind of disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

"Yeah, when you guys left the bar."

"Oh. Well I can't help you. Sorry."

"You are no fucking use to anyone, Eric." With that Clancy stalked off to his own desk. Fucker. I don't know why I was in charge of his sex life.

I sighed and switched on my laptop. I wasn't alone for long before Victor appeared. "Eric. You left suddenly on Friday."

"Yeah, I was tired." And the strip club was lame, as was the fucking company I thought to myself.

"Well I would have thought you'd have more stamina. It was a good night. We should do it again."

"Um, I'm not going to be here for much longer."

Victor just looked at me, and for a minute I thought he was going to tell me that actually I was, but instead he said "You ready for the meeting later on?"

"Yeah, but I still don't see why I have to go. I mean, I'm not going to be here for much longer." Fuck, I thought, if I keep saying it maybe it will come true.

"Hmmm, I just really need your…input at this stage. The clients are about to sign up, but things could change."

"Fine" I said. I was sick of arguing; I'd just do it and get it over with.

So later that morning I left the office along with Victor and Clancy and headed to the offices of these clients Victor was so keen for me to meet. "Shouldn't I know something about where we're going and who we're seeing?" I asked Victor on the way there.

"It's probably not necessary. After all, you won't be here for much longer. I just really need you to…make a good impression, shall we say?" Victor turned to me and smiled.

"Oh, OK" I replied. I had no idea what the fuck his game was, but it didn't seem to require much from me so I thought I could do it. Clancy was just scowling the whole time, and I didn't know what his problem was, possibly he was still upset about Ginger running away from him. Who the fuck knew? Or cared.

Things got even stranger when we got out of the car at the offices we were visiting and Victor proceeded to give me a good once-over. I half expected him to get out a handkerchief, spit on it, and rub my face with it. I scowled at him, but he didn't notice, just finished his inspection, nodded and started off towards the door. I noticed Clancy didn't get the same treatment. I'm pretty sure Clancy did too because he gave me a funny look as he walked past to catch up with Victor.

Once inside I realised what the deal was. We were at the offices of some organisation that provided in-home childcare. And for the most part, all the staff were women. Certainly all the ones we met were; the CFO, the CEO, various Vice-Presidents. All women. Victor pushed me ahead as we were introduced to everyone and basically ignored Clancy. Fucking Victor, I realised I was here as the window-dressing.

We were shown into a conference room and Victor set up to run down a list of questions that apparently they'd submitted to him after the initial pitch. Clancy helped with a few points. I just sat there, feeling like a complete dick.

Luckily it didn't take very long. They told Victor they'd make a final decision and get back to him later in the week. We stood up to leave but as we were saying goodbye the CEO decided there was a couple of other points she wanted to ask Victor and she took him to one side. I was left standing there.

Clancy went to help Victor explain some numbers and one of the other women came over to me. "So, Eric was it?" she began.

"Uh-huh."

"You're, not actually working on this team then?"

"No. No I'm not quite sure why I'm here, but I don't work for Victor anymore. I moved. To New Zealand."

"Wow. That's a long way. I've heard it's really lovely there."

"Yeah, it is." The loveliest thing was Sookie I thought to myself. I went back to staring at all the pictures of smiling children they had adorning the walls.

"So have you got any kids?" the woman asked me.

"Yeah, I do." I showed her the photos on my phone.

"Wow! She looks like you" the woman said when I showed her Felicia.

"More like her mom" I said, and then I showed her Sookie.

"She's pretty. So you're moving the whole family then?"

"Oh, no. Sookie's from there. I just came back to finish up at work and stuff."

"Well you must be looking forward to getting back home then."

"Yeah. Yeah, I am." Fuck it, I thought. It's still home. Even if Sookie's pissed with me it will still be better than here.

Just then Victor appeared. "Come on Eric" he said. "We need to get back." I said goodbye to the woman I'd been talking to and we walked back to Victor's car.

"Well, that went well" Victor announced. He sounded like he was in a good mood, so it must have.

I decided now was the time to confront him. "Victor" I said, "I need to know when I'm finishing here. You already accepted my resignation; let's not drag this out any longer than we have to."

Victor glanced over at me but was silent. Eventually he said. "Fine, Eric. Let's make Wednesday your last day. Clancy? That OK with you?"

"Fine" Clancy huffed from the back seat. Well that was progress; at least Victor was fucking releasing me. Now I just had to find out if Sookie was OK.

I waited up until it was about 1 in the morning, thinking she'd have the kids in bed and then I rang.

"Hello?" she said, sounding sleepy.

"Shit. Sorry, were you asleep?" It was only 7pm there.

"No, not really. Just dozy. I've missed out on a lot of sleep. We've all been sick; it's been like a warzone."

"What happened?"

"Stomach bug. We've all had it. Amelia and I started Sunday night. I'm on the mend, but Amelia only stopped throwing up this morning. Felicia's had it too; I think she may have stopped now. I probably had about 7 hour's sleep total in the last two nights."

"Fuck. I wish I'd been there." I really did, that sounded hard for her.

"Nah, you don't. Trust me. It was horrible. And you would have only got it anyway, so count yourself lucky."

"Yeah, I guess." I didn't feel very lucky though.

"So how's it going there?" she asked.

"Oh, well Victor finally agreed that I can finish on Wednesday, I've sold my car to Chow, and there may be someone interested in the condo. It's all going OK."

"Oh, that's great." There was silence for a while, which hung really heavy in the air. I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what. Did I apologise again for the strip club? For the phone call? Once again I had no fucking clue. I waited for Sookie to say something but she didn't. She yawned.

"Well I think you need to go to bed" I said in the end.

"Yeah, sorry. It's just, well…it's been really hard work here, and I have no energy. I'm sorry. I'm not good company at the moment."

"Well, I can understand that."

"Thanks."

"I wish I was there. So, you know, I could hold you."

"Yeah, I wish you were too. I'm much nicer to cuddle now I've stopped throwing up and everything." She laughed, but it sounded a bit hollow.

"I hate that you've been sick. That you've all been sick."

"Yeah, I've had moments of hating it too. But we're on the mend. We'll be OK. This stuff happens with kids. You'll find out."

"Yeah, I guess I will." In a strange way that was a comfort, I didn't particularly want to be sick, but I felt a bit, well…left out.

"OK, well I'm going to go and get some sleep while no one needs me. "Night Eric. Love you. Take care."

"Yeah, you too. I love you Sookie." And then she was gone again. And I couldn't figure out whether I felt better or worse for having spoken to her.

I got through my last couple of days at work doing as little as possible. I made the most of the last of my health insurance and had a complete physical. I had lunch with Indira and went shopping with her to kill some time. I phoned Calvin and made a few arrangements for when I got back home. And I left work as quietly as I could without any fanfare, and definitely without Victor dragging me out with him again.

He shook my hand and then that was it. I was finally free.

I spent Thursday packing up the last of my shit and moved into a hotel for one night. Friday I was flying to L.A. and then I had one last thing to do before I could finally go back to Sookie and the kids.

SPOV

By Wednesday everyone was on the mend, but really tired. Amelia was happy with her movies though. I was so over Barbie movies, they were particularly bad. The Chipmunks were annoying and Mama Mia was probably the best of the bunch. In order to get a bit variety I got out Eric's laptop and we looked at some of the videos for the songs Amelia had liked from what she'd been watching. Apparently real Abba is not as good as Meryl Streep and the other cast of the movie, Amelia looked at me like I was daft when I tried to show her those.

So I tried some stuff from the Chipmunk movies. She was particularly taken with Beyoncé's Single Ladies, and we watched that several times. She even practiced the dance. That was a really good sign.

Felicia was back to pulling herself up and cruising around and she was eating solid food again. I was pretty up to date on my washing and the world was looking brighter.

Judith rang to check in about the party. I asked how Lorena was. Apparently she'd come down with it as well, which was to be expected. From the sound of it Lorena had been blaming the chocolate cake. It was probably a good thing I was ordering the birthday cakes for the party then.

I wondered how Eric was getting on. He'd been very quiet the last time we'd spoken, but then I probably was as well. He'd sent me some text messages, one to say he'd moved into a hotel and then I got another on Saturday when he got his flight to L.A. We were getting close to the end of the time. He'd be home soon.

EPOV

As I got in the rental car in L.A. I realised this could be a huge mistake. My dad hadn't exactly shown much of an interest in what I was doing when I'd rung him from New Zealand on Boxing Day morning. But who the fuck knew when I'd be back here so I guess this was my one chance to say goodbye. And maybe remind myself what I wasn't going to become.

Several hours later I pulled up outside his house. It still looked the same. It didn't feel like home. It hadn't for a long time.

I rang the bell and it was answered by some girl who was probably younger than me. Fuck, the last girlfriend I'd seen had been well on the wrong side of 40. I figured this must be a nurse or a housekeeper or something.

"Hi!" she said brightly.

"Uh, hi. I'm Eric. I'm, uh, here to see my dad."

"Stan?" she asked frowning.

"Yeah. Is he here?"

"Yeah, he is. So, uh, come in. I'm Roberta by the way. But you can call me Robbie."

"Right." I stepped inside.

"Wow! You're tall!" she commented. I didn't bother responding.

She bounced down the hall and into the living room. "Stan, honey! Your son's here!" she called out. Honey? Fuck, this was the latest girlfriend. Where the fuck had she come from?

I followed her into the room. The curtains were drawn and the room didn't smell all that fresh. Dad was sitting in his chair, the chair he'd occupied for the best part of 30 years I guessed. He looked the same, just older.

"I thought you were in Australia" he said to me by way of a greeting.

"New Zealand" I replied, sitting on the couch.

"Want another drink, honey?" the girlfriend asked.

"Yup" he replied, handing her his empty glass.

"You want anything?" she turned to me.

"No, I'm good" I said. She left the room and I waited to see if Dad would say anything but he just stared at me.

"So, I was passing through and came to say, well…goodbye I guess. I'm moving to New Zealand, like I said."

"Yeah, I remember. You also said you were getting married."

"Yep."

"Well that's a fucking waste of time. Haven't you learnt anything?"

"What from you?"

"Of course from me. Fuck, I didn't bring you up to throw your life away like that. You of anyone should know that marriage just ends in fucking misery."

I wanted to tell him that he didn't fucking bring me up at all, but I really didn't want this to disintegrate quite so quickly. The girlfriend arrived back with his drink and handed it to him. "Thanks, Ronnie" he said, patting her butt.

"Oh Stan!" she said, rolling her eyes. "You know it's Robbie! Stop being so silly."

Dad took a drink and regarded me again. I got out my phone. "That's Sookie" I said passing it to him, so he could see her photo.

"Nice rack" he commented. I wanted to punch him, I really did. Of course he'd talk that way about her. But stupidly I carried on. I lent over and changed the view on the phone. "That's Amelia and…that's Felicia. Her daughters."

Dad handed the phone back. "I would have thought you'd know better Eric. Kids, fuck. I've always said fucking stay away from women with kids. In a couple of years, you'll be what? Paying child support for kids that aren't even yours. Fuck, it's probably all she wants you for. She's playing you."

I took my phone back and gritted my teeth. It was true though, of all the girlfriends Dad had brought home over the years, only a few had kids. And most of those didn't have their kids living with them. Probably those weren't the women you wanted to be step-mom to your son, but if you were my dad it made sense. Of course there were a few kids I remembered being around. There was one completely screwed up kid, I think called Alexei, who had been here one summer. I just remembered his mom said never to let him near the knives. He was fucking creepy. I wasn't sorry when they left.

"Where'd she leave their father, anyway?" Dad asked.

"He's dead. I told you."

"You sure she didn't kill him? For the insurance or something?" Dad laughed at his joke.

"Fuck off" I said. "You don't know anything. I came here because I thought you might care, but you obviously fucking don't."

"Bullshit Eric! Of course I care. I don't want you to make the same fucking mistake I did. Or a worse one for that matter. Fuck, don't throw your life away on that woman. Get yourself someone younger. Have a fucking good time. Don't be such an ass. Look at me and Ricki, we have a great time, don't we babe?" He looked at the girlfriend, who nodded but seemed unconvinced.

"Yeah, well, getting fucking drunk every night doesn't look like such a great time from where I'm sitting."

"You need to live a little. What's wrong with the way I live anyway? Don't be so fucking judgmental."

"I'm not judgmental. I just don't want to be like you."

"You're exactly like me, and you fucking know it."

We sat there looking at each other for a minute. Then I stood up. "I'm going" I said.

"Fine Eric, but don't bother crawling back here. I don't know why you're so pissed with me. I'm not the one who left you remember?"

I didn't answer him, I just walked out. I was almost to my car when I heard the girlfriend call out "Eric!" I stopped and turned.

'What?" I asked.

"Oh, just um…Stan didn't say he had a son…"

"Well he doesn't really."

"Oh. Um, OK. But it's true, right? What you said, about leaving the country?"

"Yeah."

"So…you won't be around anymore?"

"No. Why?"

"Oh, I was just, um, wondering."

"Why are you even with him?"

"What?"

"Why are you even fucking bothering with him? He's nothing but a fucking old drunk guy who I don't think even knows your name. So why him?"

"Oh. Well you know, mostly he's nice to me. And it's a nice house, it's great round here. Much nicer than where I…um, was. So you know. And he said he didn't have any family. So I thought, well…I thought we could take care of each other." She looked at me. Fuck, I thought, I wasn't the one being played. She was here to score a house off an old lonely, drunk guy.

"Good luck with that" I said, and I got into the car and drove off to find a motel.

I checked in and put my stuff in the room. I was trying not to let the visit to my dad get to me, but it was fucking easier said than done. It had been a total mistake to come. I thought, I don't know, I'd get closure. I'd wanted to tell him that I wasn't him; I was fucking better than him. But instead he'd told me I was exactly like him.

And a part of me fucking believed him.

I had intended to go and get something to eat. I walked out from the motel and headed along the road. And walked into the first bar I came across.

Three or four drinks later I wasn't feeling any fucking better. I was starting to think my dad was completely right. Fuck, I thought, I should just stay here and save Sookie the trouble of kicking my ass out when she discovers what a fuck-up I am.

A couple more drinks and some red-head struck up a conversation with me. A part of me was tempted to take her up on her not-too-subtle hints that she was up for it. I needed to feel something, anything other than shitty.

But I hadn't had quite enough to drink yet. I looked at her and she wasn't Sookie. The sober part of my brain remembered that Sookie was the only one, the only fucking one who ever made me feel OK. And she wasn't here. And I couldn't get to her.

But I could fucking call her.

I paid up at the bar and headed back to the motel. I didn't even say goodbye to the red-head, she just watched me go.

I got into the room, collapsed on the bed and dialled Sookie's number.

SPOV

Saturday night Eric phoned again. He sounded like shit. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"I went to see my Dad…it was just…just…fucking awful…" and then he made a choked noise that sounded like a sob. That was scary. He was in a bad place and he was all alone.

"Oh, Eric" I said. "It's OK. It's all going to be OK. You'll be home soon. The flight's tomorrow. You just have to get there and get on the plane. You can do that, right?"

"Yeah…yeah…I can." He didn't sound convinced.

"Have you been drinking?" I asked.

"Yeah, but it doesn't help. And it just reminds me that I'm like him. Fuck, I'm screwed, Sookie."

"No, you're not. You're so not, Eric. You're just a bit down, but that's OK. You're allowed to feel like shit sometimes. We all do."

"Yeah."

"So, you're not, like, calling me from a car you've parked outside some strange woman's house, are you?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"No" he laughed, but it wasn't really laughing.

"Well, then that's OK. A few drinks I can handle. You're fine. Get some sleep and you'll be fine."

"I can't…I don't…fuck, Sookie. Maybe I just shouldn't come back?"

"What do you mean?" This was scary; I didn't want to lose him. We were so close to this whole trip being over.

"I just…Maybe its better. Maybe it will be better if you don't have me anymore. You know, if I just…stay here."

"But I need you to come home."

"Yeah…I just…do you? Do you really need me? There? Home?"

He sounded desperate. It was heart-breaking. "Eric" I said. "I'll let you in on a little secret." I half expected him to say 'you're not wearing panties' with a leer in his voice, and the fact that he didn't told me a lot.

Instead he just said "What?" in a voice that was almost completely flat.

"It's not home when you're not here."

"What do you mean, Sookie?"

"I mean it's not home anymore without you. It's the same place, but there's a big Eric-shaped hole in our lives. I need you to come back. If you don't Amelia is going to push me over the edge, because I need you to be that buffer between us. She's hard work! Apparently I don't read the stories right, I didn't know there were special voices you used for The Gruffalo."

"Yeah, I based the snake on Victor."

"And I keep forgetting that Felicia likes to share food, so she yells at me every time she realises I've eaten all my toast myself."

"Yeah" he said. "Yeah, you have to remember to give her a piece. She looks so happy when you do."

"See. I'm no good at that one. That's not my role. That's you. We need you back. I need you back. I've been lost without you."

"Have you? Really?"

"Of course I have. The bed's empty and I have no one to talk to. No one else who cares what I've been doing and how I feel. I'm sorry that it's all been a bit…odd this last week. The stomach bug and everything just had me running round in circles. The only thing that kept me going was knowing that you were coming back."

"I am. I am coming back."

"Good, because you know if you didn't I'd have to come and get you."

"Would you?"

"I would. I would always come and get you."

"I don't know why. I'm such a fuck-up."

"But you're mine. And it's in the rules. We keep each other safe. That's the rule."

"There are rules?"

"There are. There are rules. And that's our rule."

Eric was quiet for a bit, and then he said "Fuck. How do you know what to say Sookie? How do you know how to make it better?"

"Well, see that only works with you as well. Because I never have, with anyone else." If I'd known what to say to pull Bill out of his dark place then I might not have been having this conversation now, I thought.

"So" I asked. "Are you OK? I mean really OK?"

"Yeah, I'm OK. I'm coming home. I really am. I'm just a bit…lonely."

"Yeah, me too. And I'm completely over Mama Mia."

"What?"

"Don't ask. You'll find out. When you get home."

"Yeah."

"So, want me to stay on the line for a bit, and just chat?"

"Yeah, that would be nice."

"I could tell you about the cricket. We would have won, but we folded in the last overs. McCullum was awesome though. He got a half-century."

"OK. So you're, what, trying to put me to sleep now?"

"Ha ha. You'll like cricket soon. It's great."

"Yeah, I'll take your word for it. I'm taking your word for everything else."

"Yep. Maybe that should be in the rules too?"

"How come you're in charge of all the rules?"

"Well, I'm not really. I don't make them; I just have to live by them."

"Don't we both have to live by them?"

"Yeah, we do."

"I like that there are rules. I'll always keep you safe, too. You know that? I don't want to let this…part of myself take over. That's why I said maybe I shouldn't come back."

"I know, but it's OK. I don't think you're that guy Eric. You're just…I don't know. My Eric. And that's what I want. OK?"

"Yeah, OK. So what else happened in the cricket, go on, enlighten me. I need to get to sleep sometime."

"Yeah, funny."

And then I told him some more about the cricket, and what Amelia looks like singing Abba, and how Felicia doesn't like it that I won't stand still for her to lean on, and eventually I heard his breathing even out and he'd gone to sleep. I clicked the phone off and took myself off to the bed, which was really empty without Eric. He'll be home soon, I thought. Two more days.

**We tend not to see a paediatrician unless our kid has been referred to one. Mostly, like Sookie does, we see GPs (General Practitioners) for everyday stuff. The NZ government subsidises medical care for those under 6 years old. Some GPs will still charge for kids that age, to cover any costs the subsidy doesn't, but a lot don't. So the kids are seen for free. Which we're thankful for!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N Wow! Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter. And now on to the reunion...**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

SPOV

Eric had said not to bother picking him up at the airport, he'd just get a cab. But I wanted to be there. Maybe just to make sure he actually got off the plane. So I had bribed Judith to come and sit with the kids so I could be standing here at 9 o'clock at night, thankful for the air-conditioning because the day had been really muggy.

Of course if he'd just got a direct flight we would have been doing this early in the morning, but for some reason he'd arranged things so he got to spend several hours sitting in Sydney, texting me to say that he was bored. How you can be bored when there are perfectly good duty free shops around I don't know.

Anyway, his flight had arrived and I was trying to peer over the heads of everyone else so I could spot him. Although I didn't really need to bother because it was pretty obvious when Eric came out. It really helps that he's tall. Also, possibly one of the scruffier people coming off the plane. He'd really dressed up for the occasion and was wearing a t-shirt, trackpants and jandals. Or flip-flops, or whatever he wanted to call them. We'd been arguing over that one for a while.

But although I could see him, he couldn't see me, and he was starting to walk towards the exit that led to the taxi ranks. There was no way he'd hear me if I yelled at him. So in desperation I jumped a couple of times and waved my arms. That seemed to work and his head snapped around as he saw me.

And then in what seemed like a couple of seconds he'd pushed through the crowd of people and he was in front of me. "Hi" I said, feeling a bit shy. Eric just grinned, and then he kissed me. It was amazing. It was just like being in a movie. I think we got some wolf-whistles. I really didn't care. I had Eric back.

EPOV

I'd like to say that I can spot Sookie's face out of a crowd, but obviously I can't. It was late, and I was fucking tired. But the bouncing is a different story. The bouncing I would know anywhere, and that was what I caught sight of out of the corner of my eye. And there I was, I was home. And when I kissed her it made the whole fucking miserable trip a very distant memory.

"Wow" Sookie said, when we came up for air. "You're really, really here."

"Yep. And so are you. Although you weren't supposed to be."

She shrugged. "It seemed a waste of money. And, you know, I wanted to see you." She smiled up at me and I grinned back. She put her arms around my waist. "I missed you. A lot."

"Yeah" I said. "I fucking missed you too."

We stood like that for a minute, while people pushed past us, and then we started to walk to the carpark.

SPOV

I was so excited to have Eric back that I may have accidentally talked his ear off. "So" he said, as we were pulling out of the airport parking lot, "What else did I miss?"

"Well…um, Halleigh had her baby two night's ago. 16 hours of labour, followed by an emergency caesarean. It's a girl, they called her Ruby. 7 pounds 3. And, um, well the vet's are apparently doing this new boot camp for pets and they sent me a letter saying they wanted to sign Bob up for a weightloss program, but I really don't think he needs it. Lorena got the stomach bug too and thinks I poisoned her with chocolate cake, but she should be so lucky. I wouldn't ruin a good chocolate cake with poison, and anyway, we all had it too. I'm not that stupid. Judith is still in a flap about the wedding, so for God's sake don't mention it when we get home because otherwise she'll never leave, she'll just spend all night moaning about her sisters. Amelia and Riley have discovered that it's really fun to each bounce on their own trampolines and yell at each other. It's a good thing Mr Dearborn over the back is mostly deaf because they are loud. Um…oh, well I told you about the cricket. That was kind of sad. We should have won that one." We'd stopped at the lights and I stopped talking and looked at Eric who was just smiling at me.

"I know what you're thinking" I said to him.

"Yeah? Go on, tell me."

"You're thinking 'wow, I can really see where Amelia gets that talking thing from'!"

Eric laughed. Now that I'd shut up for a minute you could hear the music coming from the stereo in the car, he looked at a speaker and frowned. "What are we listening to?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah. The Mama Mia soundtrack. I didn't realise how popular it was at pre-school. But we rented the DVD, then there were tears when it went back, so we had to buy the DVD, then I bought the soundtrack. Bizarrely Amelia does not like it when the songs are actually sung by Abba, only by Meryl Streep and the old blokes who appear in this. It's dire."

Eric nodded. "Yeah, I knew they had it at pre-school. One of the teachers told me they hid the CD because the kids were abusing the repeat button on the CD player. But the kids found the CD anyway."

"See I didn't know that at all" I said. "This is why I needed you back. You're much better at finding these things out. But next time let me know before I get talked into renting the DVD, OK?"

"OK."

Eric let me chatter the rest of the way home. Possibly I was boring but I didn't really care. I was happy and sometimes I talk a bit much when I'm happy.

Judith didn't hang around, thankfully. She said hello to Eric and asked if he'd had a good trip and then said something about going home to make more favours for the tables at the wedding reception. I wasn't paying a lot of attention to her. Mostly I was just watching Eric, like I couldn't believe he was actually here.

After Judith had gone Eric just pulled me to him and we stood like for a while, neither of us saying anything. I was happy just to touch him. It was so lovely, he was warm and solid and he made me feel safe.

"So" I asked, after we'd been standing like that for a while. "Hungry, or horny? Or both?"

"Definitely both" Eric said, as his hands started to roam over my body.

"So what's first then, bed?"

"Actually, shower. I need to get the plane smell off."

"OK." We started to walk towards the bedroom. "You are a bit niffy, now you mention it."

"Yeah, well it's not very nice in coach class or economy or whatever the fuck it was. Fucking cramped."

"Yeah, it would be for you."

I followed him into the bathroom. "Do you want me to join you?" I asked.

Eric frowned. "I'll just be quick, so, no. Maybe you could wait for me? In the bedroom?" He looked hopeful.

"Yeah, alright."

He threw off his clothes and jumped into the shower. I shook my head. "Eric! Really? No underwear?"

"Oh yeah" he said from under the spray. "The underpants fairy doesn't come to Shreveport."

"How much washing did you bring home?" I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

"Oh, not that much, but you know. I packed everything, then I miscalculated, and it was only sitting on a plane so I thought, fuck it."

"Yeah. Fair enough then. OK, I'll see you in bed."

I went into the bedroom and wondered whether I should put something sexy on, but I figured it wouldn't stay on for long so I just stripped off and got under the covers.

Eric was in the bedroom after about a minute anyway. He hadn't bothered getting dressed of course and I was dubious as to whether he'd actually put any effort into drying himself as he looked quite damp. He sat on the bed, threw the sheet off me and said "Come here."

So I slid myself closer to him and he leaned over and kissed me. I pushed my chest up so my breasts could get some contact and Eric cupped one, running his thumb over the nipple. "Oh, fuck Sookie" he murmured. "I've missed this. I've missed you."

"Yeah, I've been missing this too."

We lay down on our sides facing each other and kissed some more. Eric continued to stroke my breast. I ran my hand over Eric's chest, down his stomach and then I lightly stroked his penis with one finger, which made him shiver.

Eric's hand moved down between my legs and stroked me several times. "Oh" he said. "Oh, you're really wet."

"Uh-huh" I managed to get out, as I was really more interested in rubbing myself against Eric's hand at that point. Unfortunately he removed it and reached over to get a condom out of the drawer.

He rolled it on and looked at me. "I might be quick" he said.

"Well, you know me" I said. "I kind of like quick." I rolled onto my back and Eric moved so he was between my legs and he entered me. Oh, that was so good and I'd missed it so much. "Welcome home" I whispered to Eric. I wrapped my legs around Eric's hips and he started to move. "Sookie" he moaned. "Fuck, Sookie. I missed you so fucking much. Oh, Sookie."

I'm not sure whether I'd forgotten what it was like with Eric, or whether it was just that this was really good, but I was sort of losing myself as Eric moved in me. It was amazing.

I was starting to feel really hot. Hot and tingly and really close to coming. I put my feet on the bed and started pushing up to meet Eric's thrusts. He groaned and muttered "fuck" and I guessed he was close too. He grabbed one of my legs and pushed it up and that was it, I came. Eric murmured "Sookie, Sookie I love you so much" and then he tensed as well and I felt the jerk of his hips as he finished. "I love you too" I murmured against his chest, and I kissed the spot where I could feel his heart beating.

We were breathless and sticky from sweat and both grinning. "That was amazing" I said. "I needed that."

"Yeah, me too" said Eric. He kissed me, pulled out and then went to the bathroom to get rid of the condom. I went to join him. "It's fucking hot" he commented.

"Yeah, well. It's the beginning of February. It's the hottest time of the year."

"You didn't warn me about the humidity" Eric grumbled, turning the shower on.

"Yeah, well. It rains a lot here. When it gets hot, this is what happens."

We stepped into the shower and Eric took his time washing me. He sniffed the shower gel, and then he sniffed me. "This stuff makes you smell good" he announced. "Like cookies or something."

"Yeah, it's the vanilla stuff I got for Christmas. But I'm not sure whether or not it's odd that you like me to smell like food."

Eric shrugged. "I like cookies. And I like you, so, you know…the two together kind of work."

"Right, OK" I said giggling. I'd missed the sex, and I'd missed the showers, but I'd also really missed the silliness. Eric always made me laugh.

When the shower was finished I went into the bedroom to get some pjs. Eric followed me and opened his drawer. "Yay!" he said. "The underpants fairy came!" He pulled out some boxer briefs and put them on.

"Yeah, well. She kind of likes you I think" I said. "So, now do you want something to eat?"

"Yes please, the plane food was pretty crappy too. And I only got, like, a sandwich on the flight from Sydney."

"OK, well I have macaroni cheese leftover from our dinner?"

"Ooh, does it have little bits of vegetable all through it?"

"Yup."

"Well that's just the way I like it. So yeah, I'll have some of that."

I went to the kitchen to microwave some leftovers for Eric, who followed me. He'd obviously not been fed in a while because he was watching me with the same intensity that Bob did when he was hungry. And he was almost as likely to trip me up because I managed to back into him at one point not realising he was standing that close. He didn't seem to mind me standing on his foot though, not like Bob who squeals terribly if you stand on his tail.

I gave Eric his bowl and he grabbed a glass of water and headed back to the bedroom and flicked on the TV to see the news while he ate. I wasn't sure how much he really cared about catching up on New Zealand current events, but he seemed vaguely interested. Mostly he was interested in the food and I had to go and heat him up seconds.

"So what have you been eating?" I asked him when he was eating his way through the second helping.

"Shit." Eric said succinctly. "No one feeds me when I don't have you."

"Possibly they think you can feed yourself."

"Yeah, but you know what I mean. I mean no one cares."

"I care. I care so much that I might even make you a Pavlova."

Eric's face lit up. "Really?" he asked.

"Yeah, why not. You probably deserve a treat."

"I do. I deserve lots of treats. That was a fucking awful trip. You know what treat I want next?" he asked, turning off the TV and putting his bowl on the bedside table.

"No" I said, as Eric reached over and put his hands round my waist, pulling me towards him.

Eric leaned over to whisper into my ear. "I want to watch you bounce around on my cock for a while. That'd definitely be one of life's treats."

Eric's hands were starting to wander again, and he reached inside my tank top to cup my breast. He's always so persuasive. If I'd wanted to say no, I would have had a really hard time. It's probably a good thing I didn't want to say no.

In a weird twist I woke up around 3am and found I was lying almost completely on top of Eric. I wondered whether I was trying to stop him leaving again. I lay there in the dark just listening to Eric's heartbeat and enjoying the feel of him, and then I realised from his breathing that he wasn't asleep either.

I put my chin on his chest and looked at him "Hey" I said. "Can't sleep?"

"No, I'm kind of in a different time zone I guess."

"Yeah, you'll have to get used to being ahead of the rest of the world again."

"Yeah." We were quiet for a bit. I ran my hand along Eric's stomach, and he stroked my back.

"I'm so glad you're home" I said. "You scared me a bit the other night when you said you weren't coming back."

"Yeah, well. I think I fucking scared myself. I'm no good when you're not around, Sookie. You're just…well, you're everything. You're the only thing that makes me safe."

"Oh, Eric. It's not just me. It's us."

"No, it's you. Definitely you."

I looked at him again. "Eric, I'm not some sort of magic talisman. Trust me; you're not the fuck-up you think you are. Look at you, you're getting help, you're…well, you're here for a start. You didn't fall into the dark place you were so scared of. I think…I think that it's us, together. I think that's what works. We need each other. I'm so much stronger when I have you. I don't think I could have stood up to Lorena or Sophie-Anne if I didn't have your support. So it's not that I make you better, it's that we're better together. OK?"

"Yeah. Yeah, maybe you're right." Eric sighed. "Fuck, Sookie. What would have happened if I hadn't found you? It could have all gone so wrong."

"I don't think that was an option. I think you were meant to be here, that we were meant to find each other. I mean, seriously? Who lets random men in their house late at night? God knows what I was thinking. But I must have felt something."

Eric chuckled. "I don't really think I was a random man."

"No, but you know. You followed me home. And I let you stay. Normally that sort of behaviour only works for cats."

"Yeah, I guess. I'm just so glad you did let me in. It would have been a miserable fucking few months sitting out there in that rental car."

I snorted. "Yeah, because Andy wouldn't have arrested you by now."

"Andy's OK. We're friends. Of course he wouldn't have arrested me. He might have even put in a good word for me."

"Yeah, well. Maybe. In Eric-land."

"It's nice in Eric-land. Don't knock it."

"Mmm-hmm. I'll take your word for it. Now get some sleep, or you'll be grumpy in the morning."

"Yeah, I guess. I'm not used to early wake-ups anymore."

"No. That's going to be fun for you." We shifted around so Eric was lying behind me and holding me against his chest.

"But then I wasn't really sleeping anyway. I missed the snuggling" Eric said, with his face in my hair.

"Yeah, it was hard to sleep without you here too. 'Night Eric. I'm glad you're home."

"'Night, Sookie. It's good to be home."

He kissed my shoulder and I fell asleep.

**Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Phew! For some reason this chapter kicked my butt, and I struggled to find the time to write anyway. But it's done now, so I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

EPOV

The shout of "Eric!" really didn't give me enough time to react before Amelia's full body-weight landed on me and I got a knee in the kidney. Still, I'd had those bony knees land in worse places.

"Urgh" I exclaimed when she landed, which caused Sookie to wake up and say "Be careful with Eric, Amelia!"

"He's here" Amelia said, as if Sookie hadn't noticed. "He's not on a plane. You said he was on a plane, but he's not."

"Yesterday he was on a plane."

"I've never been on a plane."

"No."

I sat up. "Planes aren't that great Amelia" I said, and she looked a bit puzzled. "It's boring and the food is really bad."

"I don't like borin'" she said. "Why is the food bad? Is it McDonald's?"

"No, it's just not very nice. It's not as good as what your mom makes."

Amelia looked a bit dubious at that statement but let it slide. "Does Felicia know you're here?" she asked me.

"Probably not…" I said, and Amelia shot off the bed and took off down the hall yelling "Leesha! Eric's back!" That obviously woke Felicia up because we could hear her chanting "Dee! Dee! Ba! Ma! Ma ma ma ma" in reply.

I figured I probably had about two minutes more of having Sookie all to myself, so I rolled towards her and pinned her in a hug, putting my head on her chest. She stroked my hair and kissed the top of my head. "It's nice to have you back" she said.

It was fucking nice to be back. I'd been half-afraid that I'd turn up and she would tell me to just fuck off, she was done with me. But I'd lucked out and she wanted me back. And last night was the best night's sleep I'd had since I'd left, even if I was awake for a part of it. But I didn't mind that, because I had Sookie curled up with me, all soft and warm and comforting.

I'd missed her so very much. I'd missed holding her, I'd missed talking to her, I'd missed fucking her. The separation had brought home how much I loved about being with Sookie. I loved making her giggle and I loved making her moan. I loved the way she fussed about trying to feed me, and couldn't stop talking when she was happy. I never fucking wanted to leave any of that again.

But she sighed and said "I better go and check that Amelia isn't hauling Felicia out of the cot" and I had to let her go.

I went to find Amelia who was in the kitchen explaining to Bob that he couldn't have breakfast yet. I could hear Sookie down the hall in Felicia's room singing one of the nonsense songs she liked to make up, none of them seemed to have much of a tune and the lyrics to this one seemed to mostly be about not rolling over because it's annoying for Mummy.

Amelia looked at me and said "You're still here."

"Well, yeah. I'm not going anywhere."

"Oh. I'm going to pre-school. I didn't go last week. I spat up. On the deck. And then my tummy didn't like food."

"Yeah, that must have…sucked."

"Yeah. But then I got the Mamma Mia DVD, want to see?"

"Um, maybe not right now." I went to make some coffee. I suspected that Sookie had just been drinking instant while I wasn't here. I couldn't really blame her I guessed.

"Maybe I could sing it for you later on? Mum sings too…sometimes. She's singing now."

"Yeah" I agreed, getting the cups out of the cupboard.

"I think that's 'cos you're back."

I didn't say anything and she went on. "She didn't sing when you were on the plane. Can I have a marshmallow? My tummy might like them."

"Um, no. Not for breakfast." I don't think Amelia had really expected me to say yes, because she didn't seem worried. Sookie appeared in the kitchen with Felicia who yelled "Ba! Dee! Dee!"

"Hang on, Bob" Sookie said, stepping over him and putting Felicia in the high-chair.

Bob wandered over to me and rubbed up against my legs. I looked down at him.

"Bob's saying hello to Eric!" Amelia shouted.

"Yeah, I hate to say it, but he's actually just scent-marking him" Sookie said. "Sorry, Eric, you obviously don't smell like one of his people anymore."

I shrugged. I guess at least in the cat world I smelt like the rest of the family now. I supposed that meant Bob could safely let me wander around the neighbourhood without the risk of some random tabby deciding to adopt me.

Sookie started moving around the kitchen and I sort of, well, followed her. I hadn't quite got used to the fact I was really home and I was keen on keeping Sookie within arm's reach. Just in case. Plus it's nice to touch her.

It's quite a small kitchen though and we had a bit of a traffic-jam when Sookie backed into me and I nearly tripped on Bob who then rushed out, knocking into Amelia who yelled "Bob pushed me!" At that point Sookie banned us all from the kitchen.

Going away might have been fucking awful, but there were advantages to coming back. Sookie was definitely fussing over me a bit more, and I even got scrambled eggs for breakfast because she felt bad about the fact I hadn't been eating all that well. I briefly wondered how long I could milk this, but I soon realised that there were definite downsides to all the attention as well. One of them being Amelia's impromptu concerts.

"Hey, Eric. Watch me! No, you have to watch me as I come into the room. And clap. Don't forget to clap, OK?" she said, once she'd finished her breakfast.

Then I was treated to a very loud and tuneless rendition of something that might have been Abba. If they had written lyrics which went "Mamma Mia! Here I go again!...Yes, I've been bwoken heart-ed. Da, da, blue stain par-ted. Why why?...Yes! I've been bwoken heart-ed…" It was a very dramatic performance, complete with Amelia clutching her chest every time she sang about being broken hearted (which was a lot, because evidently that was the one line she could remember correctly).

When it appeared that she had, indeed, finished the song, as opposed to just pausing for breath, I clapped. Amelia curtsied. "Want to hear it again?" she asked.

"Um, maybe later on." I said.

"Amelia, can you go and get dressed? Your clothes are on your chair." Sookie said.

Amelia stomped off and Sookie laughed. "She takes it all _very_ seriously" she said. "And you're not allowed to try to correct the lyrics she's singing. Because she's right and I'm wrong. What would I know anyway?"

"Yeah, it's an…interesting interpretation."

"Mmm, I suspect she's a child who really needs to be on the stage. Maybe a bigger audience will be better for her, and we won't have to listen to it so often."

I looked at Sookie. "Won't she have to rehearse though? At home?"

"Bugger."

SPOV

It was great having Eric back. It was one thing being the sole audience member for Amelia (apparently Felicia didn't count because she's 'just a baby'), but it was nice to have someone to compare notes with afterwards.

We all got ready, which is a lot easier when you have another adult around who can scoop up the child running around in just her knickers yelling "I want a DRESS!" as she runs past him, and then I took Amelia to pre-school. She was buzzing about going because she'd been off sick all of last week and was worried that she might have missed something important. It was funny to think of a bunch of three year olds (well, a nearly four year old in Amelia's case) having such important social lives, but apparently if you weren't there for a day they all wondered where you were, then they played without you. This horrified Amelia, because obviously things were meant to grind to a halt without her presence.

When I got back Eric and Felicia were sitting on the deck, but they came inside as I arrived.

"You didn't tell me" Eric said grumpily.

"Tell you what?" I asked.

"About Felicia."

"What about Felicia? She can't sing yet." At least I hoped she couldn't. I briefly wondered if there'd be duets happening soon.

"That she can walk."

"No she can't. She sometimes let's go with one hand, mainly to throw something. But she can't walk."

"She can. She just did then. On the deck."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I know what I saw."

"Well let's see if we can get her to do it again then."

Only we couldn't. We sat on the floor and called her to us, but she steadfastly refused to walk. I was really starting to doubt what Eric had seen. I thought he'd just imagined it, he'd been so worried about her starting to walk when he wasn't there, so he'd just thought she let go of whatever she was holding onto.

The calling her wasn't working so we tried putting some blocks down, but Felicia just crawled to them. We tried using something a little bit more exciting, Eric's phone, but the same thing happened, even when Eric held it in his hand rather than putting it on the ground.

I had hoped that when Bob showed up to see what we were doing, he might induce a bit of walking, but nope, she wouldn't walk over to him either.

"Maybe if we offer her food?" Eric asked, looking at me. I shrugged, Felicia seemed kind of happy with the blocks, now she'd stopped grumping about having the phone taken back off of her again. So maybe the food would work.

Eric stood up and headed for the kitchen, and Felicia watched him. Then she stood up, took three or four steps in the same direction, before sitting down again. "Fa! Fa! Dee!" she yelled, as she started to crawl.

"Eric!" I called. "She just did it, she was following you."

"Shit. I missed it. Do you think we can get her to do it again?"

By this time Felicia had reached Eric and was poking him in the leg. "Dee! Bub, bub, bub" she said.

"Um, I'll see if she'll come to me. Felicia! Come here!" I called out, holding out my arms, but she just sat there, next to Eric's feet. He crouched down and said "Go on, go to Mum" but she just looked at him and stayed sitting.

Eric stepped round her and started to head back to me. "Dee!" she yelled. "Mum mum mum!"

Eric crouched next to me and held out the biscuit he'd gone to the kitchen to get. "Ba!" Felicia yelled seeing it.

"You have to walk for it though" Eric said to her, as she started to crawl to him.

"Bub" Felicia said confidently, still crawling.

"Maybe you'll have to walk away again?" I asked.

So Eric stood up and backed towards the hallway. Felicia stopped, watched Eric and the biscuit slowly disappearing and got really annoyed. She frowned, squealed out a very frustrated shout of "AH!", then stood up and took three steps towards Eric, before sitting down and holding her hand out for the biscuit. "TA!" she yelled at Eric.

He handed it over and held up his hand for a high-five. Felicia smacked the biscuit against it, sending a shower of crumbs everywhere, and the biscuit fell to the floor. Luckily it didn't bother her and she picked it up and started eating it. I'd seen her eat Bob's cat food once, so she obviously wasn't picky.

"Wow, she can walk. I knew I'd seen her do it" Eric said, sitting on the floor next to Felicia. She held out the half-chewed biscuit to him and said "Ta?"

"Um, no thanks." Eric replied still just watching her.

"Yeah, that's another milestone down." I went over to her and gave her a big cuddle. "You're not my baby anymore, are you?" I asked her. But Felicia only said "Bub" in reply, although her mouth was full so it was really more of a 'bwup' noise.

"I guess maybe she was waiting for you" I said "Or maybe just until Amelia wasn't around and likely to bowl her over in excitement. Either way, I'm glad you got to be here." I smiled at Eric who was still looking at Felicia.

"Yeah, I'm glad I was too." He leaned over and put his arm around me. "It's starting to feel a bit like the trip was a bad dream." I put my arms around his neck and we kissed until Felicia finished her biscuit and climbed into Eric's lap looking for more and shouting "Dee! Ba! Ba!" at us.

We broke apart and Eric asked what the plan for today was. "Well" I said "I'm sadly over-due for some groceries so it's Pak N Save. But you can stay here if you want."

"Nah, I'll come too. You never know it might have had a radical re-design while I was away. And found a completely new clientele."

I snorted. "Yeah, I think you might be out of luck there." Eric stood up and held out his hand to help me up. "You know" I said, "It must be true love if you're willing to come to Pak N Save on a Tuesday with me."

Eric looked at me seriously "Of course it is. I thought we'd established that?"

"Oh Eric!" I said, rolling my eyes. "You're just a big romantic dork sometimes, aren't you?" It was kind of cheesy, but it was hard not to feel all sort of, warm, when he said dumb stuff like that.

He looked at me. "I don't think I'm a dork at all, Sookie."

"No, well. You're my dork, anyway. How's that?"

"Marginally better, I guess."

"Dorp!" Felicia yelled from the floor.

EPOV

Pak N Save hadn't changed at all. It was still pretty nasty. But it fulfilled Sookie's requirements of having lots of specials. I'm sure they could have put a sign saying 2 for $5 on just about anything and she would have felt compelled to buy it because it was a 'good deal'. She was always convinced she'd use whatever shit she bought. I'd learnt to just leave her to it. And I didn't even say anything when she made me change the cat biscuits I'd got off the shelf for ones labelled healthy weight management. I guess Bob was going on a diet then.

But the thing that really pissed me off about Pak N Save this time around was actually a person. There was some guy who I'm pretty sure was following Sookie around. It started with her handing back the toy the kid in his trolley had thrown, at which point he said thanks and she laughed about it. I was further down the aisle with our trolley and Felicia, and I don't think he noticed me.

But then we kept passing him every aisle we went down. His kid would throw whatever the fuck the toy was and Sookie would feel compelled to pick it up. And the guy would feel compelled to stare at her ass as she did it. What a fucker. He didn't even care I was right there, he even fucking smiled at me too.

And what was worse than the gratuitous ass-watching, was the fact that I caught him staring at her left hand as well. As if it's only the fact of whether or not there's a ring there makes her available, and negates the fucking fact that I'm standing right next to her.

I really wanted to get her a ring, I'd even thought about just buying her one in the States and bringing it home. If it was a present she couldn't really object, could she? I suspected that maybe she could. So I hadn't. But now we had fucking guys, who patently were wearing rings, following her around Pak N Save, as if the place wasn't bad enough already. Fuck. I'd have to think of a way of persuading her, and even I could tell that she wasn't going to go along with wearing one just because it marked her as mine, even though I thought that was a perfectly valid reason.

I'd have to think of something better.

SPOV

We made it through Pak N Save without either Felicia or Eric having a melt-down and demanding to go home now, so that was something. Eric was a bit funny though. There was some dad there with his kid who kept throwing a toy car on the ground, and of course once you pick something up for a kid they know you're a sucker. So I had to scoop the car up, every time we passed them, while Eric just stared the guy down as if it was his fault that his son was a pain in the bum.

Eric's a pain in the bum sometimes too, but I figured as long as he wasn't doing anything other than staring I'd just let him get on with it. It was so nice to have proper adult company going round Pak N Save that I'd put up with it.

And it was even possible I'd missed Eric staring at random strangers on my behalf of course.

But we all got home in one piece, managed to fit everything in the pantry despite Eric's helpful comments of "Possibly this buying in bulk thing only works if you actually have the space to store the stuff." He has no clue. I wasn't buying in bulk. I was just…economising by buying specials. But I let it slide because it was his first day back.

Of course it's also hard to put stuff away in the pantry when Felicia is there with you trying to take stuff back off the shelves, so I had to get the pair of them to leave the kitchen for a while and just let me get on with it. I could hear a lot of cheering coming from Eric, so I guessed she'd maybe walked again.

We had lunch and put Felicia down for a nap. Eric looked hopeful that maybe we could do the same, but I pointed out he still needed to unpack. I wasn't sure how much washing he had stashed in there, and it needed to come out.

So he huffed and he sighed, and he tried to claim that jet-lag made it really necessary for him to have a nap about now, but I managed to resist. Eric seemed to have bought back a lot of luggage and I was a bit worried about what was in it.

I really did hope it wasn't all washing.

We put his suitcase on the living room floor and opened it up. The first stuff that came out was toys. A huge pile of Barbies and Polly Pockets and things that made annoying noises for Felicia. "Wow!" I said. "When the hell did you get all this?"

Eric shrugged. "I went to a toy store when I was bored. They did look at my ID for a long time when I paid though. It's entirely possible I might be on a sex offender's register in Louisiana now."

I laughed. I guessed a guy on his own buying that much stuff was a bit suspicious. We went through the stuff working out what they could have tonight, and what we'd put away for the birthdays – Felicia's was almost here and it was only a few weeks after that until Amelia turned 4.

Next out was clothes. Piles and piles of little girl and baby clothes. BabyGap and a whole lot of other stuff I didn't recognise. "So, what happened when you bought all this?" I asked. "I'm surprised they didn't haul you off then and there."

"Nah, I had Indira with me when I bought this" Eric said.

"Oh. I didn't realise you guys were that close" I said, holding up several of the outfits to admire them.

"Well, we weren't. But apparently I am less of an asshole now." Eric pulled a face and I laughed. "She split up with Chow at Christmas" he said.

"Oh, that's sad. They seemed OK together."

"Mmm, they'd apparently been doing IVF and it just wasn't working."

"Oh, yeah. Well I've heard that is hard. She was really sharing with you though wasn't she?"

Eric shrugged. "She seemed kind of lonely. I guess misery loves company. But she said if you want anything else sent over, like clothes for the girls, just let her know."

"That was nice of her."

Eric reached into his suitcase and pulled something else out. "Oh, and I got these for Felicia." He handed me a small shoebox. Inside was a tiny pair of Nike sneakers.

"Oh, they're gorgeous" I gushed.

"Yeah, I figured if she was going to be walking, she might need them. Something to run in."

"I don't know that we want to encourage running. It leads to running off. Amelia's bad enough."

"I didn't think of that. Fuck."

We delved through the rest of the suitcase. There was a fair amount of washing, but it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. There was also something that Eric snuck behind his back and said I couldn't have until we went away.

"Away where?" I asked, confused. He'd only just got back.

"We're going away. Just us. On Thursday." Eric said looking smug.

"OK…and the kids are…?"

"Staying with Calvin and Judith. I asked him last week."

"OK, so what are we doing for them in return?" I knew how this worked.

"Um…" Eric said, looking thoughtful. "You know when they go on honeymoon for two weeks? Well we're having Jessica half of that time. So apparently she doesn't wear Lorena out."

I had worried about Lorena coping with a two year old for two weeks so I guessed it was fair enough. "OK then, so how long are we going for?"

"Two nights."

"And where are we going?"

"That's the surprise. I'm not saying." Eric was looking really pleased with himself.

"Mmm-hmm, and if I just… I don't know; impose a ban on sex until you tell me, what do you say then?"

Eric eyed me suspiciously. "You wouldn't."

I shrugged and made a non-committal noise. "I can be kind of mean sometimes" I said. "Just ask Amelia."

"Fine, Waiheke. But that's all you're getting out of me" Eric said.

"Wow. You folded really fast!" I was surprised. I honestly thought he'd hold out until at least tonight.

"Yeah, well I went away for two weeks. It was a really fucking long time without you. And, you know, obviously I'm not mean like you are."

"No, obviously not."

"So" Eric said, coming around to where I was sitting on the floor on one side of the open suitcase. He put an arm either side of me and leaned right into my personal space. Although I was never actually sure that I had any personal space as far as Eric was concerned. "So…I think I still need that nap. Given that I'm still jet-lagged and everything…" he started kissing my neck and I had to crane around him to look at my watch.

"I think" I said "that you've maybe got twenty minutes of Felicia's naptime left. If we're lucky. What can you do in twenty minutes?"

"You know" Eric said between kisses "You really should learn not to set me these challenges. I find it very hard to resist a challenge. Or you for that matter."

I was finding him pretty hard to resist at this point in time. He reached up under my t-shirt and squeezed my breast. Then he obviously decided he wanted to see because my shirt came off and he pulled the cups of my bra down. "I missed these" he murmured before he took a nipple in his mouth.

"You missed the rest of me as well, didn't you?" I asked him, while running my fingers through his hair.

"Uh-huh. Definitely. Does that mean I get to see all of you?" he asked, unhooking my bra and pulling it off.

"Well…I guess it does" I admitted, as Eric tugged off my shorts and knickers in one go.

Eric pulled back and looked at me, lying on the makeshift bed of dirty washing that he'd pushed me back into. "Beautiful" he said. "Just fucking beautiful." I wanted to protest a bit, but we were on the clock so I just shut up and tried to enjoy the fact that he thought I was beautiful.

Eric lay over me and kissed me again, before trailing kisses down my neck, across my breasts and stomach and finally down to where I was feeling really tingly and definitely in need of some attention. He threw my legs over his shoulder placed both his hands under my bum to lift me up.

"Two weeks is a really fucking long time" he muttered, half to himself I think, before he began by placing a couple of gentle kisses where I was feeling very sensitive. He then gave me a couple of long, slow, torturous licks, before he began gently sucking my clit.

That felt so good. And I really wanted to move a little, just to get a bit more friction, but my pelvis was sandwiched between his hands and his head and all I could do was squirm just a little. And moan. I definitely think I was moaning.

Eric moved one hand away from my bottom and inserted two fingers inside me which he curled slightly before moving them. That was it for me; I arched my back and said "Ohhh, Eric!" as I came.

"So" he said, grinning up at me as I lay back on the pile of clothes. "Not bad for less than twenty minutes?"

"Not bad at all. In fact probably more like excellent" I said, coming back to earth. I looked at my watch. "And I think it might even be your turn."

"That really is excellent" Eric said, looking quite thrilled with the idea. He kicked off his shorts and underwear and sat there, leaning back on his hands while I knelt between his legs and stroked his penis a couple of times.

"You're right" I said. "Two weeks does seem like a really long time."

Eric just nodded and said "Uh-huh." He was watching me, but he was looking kind of glazed at the same time. I bent over and teased the tip of his penis with my tongue, which earned me a rather strained moan of "Fuck!" from Eric, before I took him in my mouth and started to swirl my tongue around.

I increased the suction and started to move my mouth up and down with determination. It didn't take long before Eric started to move slightly and only a few strokes after that he grunted and I felt him tense and release into my mouth.

I kept my tongue moving for a few seconds more, which made Eric groan again, and then I released him from my mouth. We smiled at each other, and then I heard Felicia start chatting down the hall.

"Good timing!" I said, reaching over to find my clothes out of the piles of stuff on the floor. It wasn't easy.

"Yeah" Eric said, pulling his underwear on. He had several pairs for choose from as his stuff was now well and truly spread all over the floor. "It was, but now I'm hot and sticky and I feel like I missed my nap!"

I stood up and kissed the top of his head. "Well you go and have one if you want. You might as well try to rest while you can."

"Yeah, it's tempting. But I should probably try to get back into this time zone."

"Yep, you should. And I guess we can nap when we go away on Thursday."

"Now there's something to look forward to" Eric said, standing up.

"Because it will be all about the naps, won't it?" I said as I started to head towards Felicia's room.

"Well, you know. You're insatiable! It's all 'Come on Eric! We've got twenty minutes Eric! Service me now, Eric!'"

I stopped and looked at him. "You have an, um, interesting interpretation of events, don't you?" I asked smiling.

Eric shrugged. "It's how it all played out in my head."

"I think you better keep some of what goes on in your head to yourself" I said patting his arm and heading off to deal to the person who was now shouting "Mum! Mum! Dee! Dee!" louder and more frantically than before.

We reached the cot where Felicia was standing up holding onto the railings. She let out a squeal of delight. Eric held up his hand for a high-five and she managed to actually hit it, first time.

"Yay!" he said. "At least one of you gets me." He lifted Felicia out and she smacked him on the side of the face. "Ow!"

"Yeah, well. Some of the time anyway" I said, laughing.

**Thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N Thanks to everyone for the lovely reviews to the last chapter, especially those who said you couldn't tell I'd struggled with it! I struggled a bit with this one too, but made an executive decision that plot is over-rated. Well, they spent all that time apart, and they were miserable! So it seems only fair.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine, I just stuck them on an island in the Waitemata Harbour.**

SPOV

It was quite exciting to be going away, even just for a couple of nights. Amelia of course wasn't quite as excited about going to stay with Aunty Jude and Uncle Cal. She somehow thought that she should come with us because she wasn't a baby like Felicia. Even the fact that we were going on a ferry not a plane didn't make the trip any less interesting. In the end it was only the fact that we let her take her Mamma Mia DVD to share with her aunt and uncle that persuaded her to go.

God, I hoped they didn't decide to pay me back for that when we had Jessica.

Still we managed to extricate ourselves from the kids pretty easily once Amelia realised she had a new audience and Felicia figured out that she could almost follow Jessica around now.

So we drove into the city and parked the car in the Downtown carpark. The car was really quiet with just Eric and I sitting in it. Neither of us was talking much, but that was OK. I was happy just sitting here next to him.

We had to pass through the lobby of the building that housed the bank where we'd met. Eric glanced over at the coffee place and said "If we had more time before the ferry leaves, I could buy you coffee. Just like old times."

"Oh, well, you can buy me coffee on the ferry then. It won't be quite the same but at least we won't run the risk of running into Sophie-Anne." Although a tiny part of me was hoping we saw her. It wasn't a very nice of part of me, because it really only wanted to see her in order to gloat. I realised that this is when an engagement ring might really come in handy, but being able to gloat about having Eric was really _not_ a reason to buy one.

We got through the building OK, and across Quay Street to the ferry terminal. Luckily I knew where I was going because Eric had booked all of this without actually figuring out where the ferry left from.

There weren't a lot of other people on the ferry, given it was mid-morning on a weekday. On weekends of course it was packed with everyone going over for the day or the weekend.

Eric held my hand as I stepped onto the ferry and I felt that slight twinge of panic that I always did on a boat. It was stupid; the ferry wasn't going to sink. But I was never going to be super-keen about being out on the open water.

Eric must have noticed me tense up a bit because he asked if I was OK. "I'm fine" I said. "It's OK. It's just boats make me a bit nervous."

"Oh. Fuck. Sorry, I didn't really think."

"No, it's OK. I'll be OK." I smiled at him and squeezed his hand. "Its fine, really it is. I've done this before. Just…um. Let's sit inside is all, is that OK?"

"Yeah, yeah. That's fine. I don't mind." Eric said. We stepped down into the main cabin and found a seat at one of the Formica tables.

"I know it's not quite as nice down here" I said, trying to not to panic as I felt the boat wallowing around. That was the worst bit, I hated that side to side motion, and once we were actually moving it wasn't so bad. "So if you want to go up on deck and look at the harbour, then I won't mind."

Eric shrugged. "I've seen it. I'd rather hang out with you." He put his arm around me and pulled me tight against his side. "Sorry" he said. "I should have thought that maybe you and boats weren't a good combination."

"Yeah. I'll be OK. It's only 35 minutes."

"You sure? Because we can get off now and just go and find a hotel in town?"

"No" I said, doing a reasonable job of pulling myself together mentally. "No. I'll be fine. Waiheke is lovely. They have vineyards. At least I assume we're going to the vineyards?"

Eric shrugged and just looked smug. "I'm not saying what we're doing."

"Hmmm" I said, narrowing my eyes at him. He was playing coy now I'd taken that whole sex-ban thing off the table. He liked the fact I was wondering about what we were doing. Well, I had something up my sleeve too.

The ferry started up and we moved away from the wharf. I relaxed my grip on Eric's hand a bit. I don't know why it was worse being in a boat that wasn't moving, but that's just the way it went with me.

After about five minutes or so I managed to sit a bit straighter and not need quite so much support from Eric. I looked out the window. It all looked OK. I took a deep breath and turned to smile at Eric. "See!" I said, brightly. "I told you I'd be fine. Ferries don't sink anyway. Well, not unless they're the Wahine, but that was the Cook Strait…and you don't know what I'm talking about anyway." Eric was looking at me puzzled. Yeah, I guess they don't teach American school students about one of New Zealand's largest maritime disasters.

I let another five or so minutes go past before I said anything else. Eric had been busy looking out the window. I got the impression that he would have rather been out on deck enjoying the view, but it was nice of him to sit down here with me. I'd have to make sure he sat outside on the way back. Perhaps I'd even be brave enough to join him. You never knew.

"Hey" I said, to get his attention. Eric turned to look at me. "So, you know that whole thing where you went to the doctor's back in the States and got tested and everything?" I asked. Eric nodded. "Well, did you realise that today is officially the day I've been on the pill long enough for it start working again? Fancy that, huh? No more condoms. So that'll be nice." Eric didn't say anything but I could see he was processing that thought. "OK" I said in the end. "Well, I'm going to the bar to get a drink, do you want anything?"

Eric shook his head, still looking a bit glazed. I stood up, steadied myself, and walked over to the little bar to get something cold to drink.

EPOV

I felt incredibly bad about booking this trip as soon as I saw Sookie's reaction to the ferry. Fuck, I'd never thought about the whole thing with her parents and what it might mean to her going on a boat. But she kept telling me she'd be fine, and then I guess that she was, because she seemed to come right. I was thinking that maybe I'd be able to get her to sit on the deck with me on the way back, because it seemed a shame to be inside when the weather was fucking awesome, when Sookie suddenly announced we wouldn't have to use condoms anymore.

Fuck me.

After that I really stopped thinking for a while. Or, I suppose, I was really just thinking about one thing. Watching Sookie's ass sway as she walked over to the bar didn't help either. I was just lucky I was sitting at this table so I could try and calm down before the ferry docked and we had to disembark.

Sookie came back and poured some Sprite into two plastic glasses and handed one to me. I gulped it back and just concentrated on breathing. And not on how close Sookie's leg was to mine.

SPOV

Eric got very, very quiet after I made my announcement. I felt a bit mean, really. It probably wasn't nice to play with him in quite that way. I felt so mean that I shared my Sprite with him to make up for it. I don't know if that did make up for it, but he drank it anyway.

When the ferry docked we had a few nasty minutes of feeling the ferry wallowing about again, which took my mind off of anything else for a while. And then we stood up and moved towards the exit, Eric helping me up with the hand that wasn't holding our bag.

"So, what happens now?" I asked, putting my sunglasses on against the bright sunlight.

"Um, someone is supposed to meet us" Eric said, scanning the people milling around the wharf. The bus had pulled up to meet the ferry but I guessed we weren't going on a bus. Actually I couldn't really picture Eric on a bus.

Eric said "Over there" and I realised he'd spotted someone holding a sign up saying 'Northman', so it was good that one of us wasn't daydreaming about buses. Eric handed the bag to the guy holding the sign, and we piled in the backseat and the guy got in the front and we pulled out, leaving the bus and the taxis and assorted rental cars behind.

"Good trip over?" the driver asked.

"Yeah" I said, when I realised Eric wasn't replying. "It's a lovely day out there."

We headed up the road that led away from the wharf and towards Oneroa. I enjoyed looking out the window at the view. You could see glimpses of the sea quite frequently. I guessed that was to be expected really given we were on an island. I may not always be comfortable on boats, but I do love the sea.

The car climbed up into the hills. That's how you can tell that technically this is still part of Auckland, there's always a hill in Auckland. Eric reached over and held my hand and squeezed it and I turned to him and grinned. This was exciting. And romantic. Eric did have good ideas.

Finally we pulled up in front of what I assumed was a boutique hotel. I'd never been to a boutique hotel before. This was going to be fun.

We got out of the car and got all checked in. The concierge who whoever she was, was very smiley and she spent a while running through a lot of stuff with Eric. I left them to it and went to have a look at the gardens. And the big infinity pool, which had a view out over the edge of the hill to sea. It was beautiful up here.

Eventually they seemed to be all finished and we were shown to a room. Or, really it was more of a chalet, as it was a separate little building. We walked into the room and I had a good look around. It was very fancy. The last time we'd been away together it was to Tara's bach at Piha and this was about a hundred times fancier than that had been. Although there was a bathtub with a big window above it, so I guess this still had the option of a semi-outdoor bathroom.

I wandered in slowly. Eric was being very quiet; he just followed me in and shut the door, and put the bag down on the floor.

I looked at the bed. It was huge. I wondered idly whether it was a king or a super-king, because I couldn't remember seeing a bed that huge before.

I sat down on it and turned towards Eric, who was just standing there looking at me. "So" I said. "What do we do next? Vineyard? Beach? Walk around the town?"

"Sookie" Eric said in a really throaty voice. "What I need you to do now is to take off all your clothes and lie on that bed, because I really, really need to fuck you right now."

I giggled. There was always a part of me that thought I really shouldn't be so turned on when he said stuff like that, but we'd had a vote and declared her lame. I pulled my tank top over my head and then I was joined on the bed by Eric who'd somehow managed to lose all of his clothes and was making it blatantly obvious just how much he did need sex right now.

EPOV

I'd managed to get through the drive to the hotel and the long and boring spiel from the concierge. I was afraid to talk too much because I was worried I might shout at someone in frustration. All I could think about was that soon I got to fuck Sookie. Without a condom.

The only times I hadn't used one in the past I'd been fucking drunk and fucking lucky. None of those were particularly memorable occasions, and none of them were with women I gave a shit about.

But I really wanted to do this with Sookie. Immediately. Fuck, I thought, as I stripped and got on the bed with her. I hoped she was pretty ready too.

So far she'd only managed to get her t-shirt off. Possibly if she'd stopped giggling at me she might have got a bit further with the undressing. I was feeling a bit impatient so I decided I'd better help. I kissed her and reached around to unhook her bra pulling that off and throwing it somewhere before reaching down to pull her panties off. The skirt I could work around, but Sookie annoyingly shuffled away a bit so she could take it off properly. I did like it when she was naked, but I really wasn't in the mood to be fussy about that now.

Once she'd got that off, and fucking laid it carefully on a chair, I grabbed her again and started running my hands over whatever part of her body I could reach. "Fuck, Sookie" I murmured. She said something that sounded like "Unh" as I tongued her nipple while reaching down to see if she was ready, or anything near.

I touched her clit and she arched her back, so I rubbed it a few times with my finger while Sookie clutched at my shoulders. "Ohhhh" she sighed.

I ran my finger through her folds and felt the wetness that was starting to seep out. I shivered thinking about just how much of that wetness I'd get to feel on my cock. Oh fuck, this was going to be good.

I inserted a finger into her and she moaned again. I looked at her and she smiled at me. "OK" she said. "Let's go for it."

That was all the encouragement I needed. I positioned myself between her legs and pushed in. Oh fuck yes. I was used to feeling tightness, and a bit of warmth. But without the condom, she was so fucking warm and wet. I had to just stay still for a moment or else it would all be over. Fuck. If she ever made me wear a condom again, I thought I might cry.

"OK?" I asked her.

"Yeah, yeah. Really OK" she said, breathlessly.

And then I started to move and it was just a bit…overwhelming. I wasn't going to last long at all. It was a good thing we didn't try this the night I got back or else it would have been really fucking embarrassing.

Sookie started pushing hard against me, working towards her own orgasm. That felt good too. And then she started to come, and she was squeezing me hard inside her. I had a thought that if I stopped moving and took some deep breaths, that maybe I could hold off for a while, but it was very brief thought and then I was lost to the sensation. "Sookie" I moaned into her neck. "Sookie, oh fuck. This is wonderful." I bent down to kiss her. And then I came as well.

I rolled us over so I didn't crush her, but I realised that I as I didn't have a fucking condom to go and dispose of, I didn't actually have to pull out. Well that was nice. We could just lie here for a bit.

Sookie was flushed and smiling. "So" she said "Was it better?"

"So much fucking better. You have no idea. It never really occurred to me before, but those things are really shitty. They take half the fun out of it."

Sookie laughed. "So I may have created a monster saying we don't have to use them?"

"I'm not exactly a monster. I'm just…you know, quite keen on the idea of sex with you. Without anything fucking getting in the way. It just feels, I don't know. Right, or something."

"Yep. Definitely."

Sookie tucked her head into my shoulder and we lay like that for a while. I think she may have dozed a bit. I eventually pulled out and just lay next to her, but it wasn't long before my cock decided that he'd had so much fun without the condom that it would be a really good idea to do it again.

"Sookie" I said, nudging her a little.

"Mmm?" she said, a bit sleepily. "I'm having a nap, you said on this trip there'd be naps."

"Yeah, but not yet. We still have stuff to do."

"Oh, what stuff?"

"OK, well maybe not stuff. Stuff later on perhaps. Sex now though."

"More sex?"

"Yup. For research purposes."

Sookie sat up a bit so she was leaning on one arm, and looked at me. "What research?" she asked.

"Well, you know. We tried one position and that was good. Actually really good. But I was thinking that we should really try another position."

Sookie smiled at me. "Oh, did you?"

"Uh-huh" I said, nuzzling her neck, which was always a good move when I wanted to get her in the mood. I glanced down and watched her nipples harden. It was looking like she was in the mood already.

"So what did you have in mind?" Sookie said, running her hand up and down my back.

"Turn over" I said. Sookie looked at me, but didn't say anything. She twisted around so she was lying on her stomach. I was lying next to her, still on my side and I just took a moment to admire her, running my hand down her back and across her luscious ass. Then I bent over and kissed down the same trail, making sure I placed a lot of kisses along her lower back. That always worked as well. Sure enough she parted her legs slightly and I'm not ever sure she was aware she was doing it.

"Sookie" I said. "You're so beautiful, you have no fucking idea. And you feel so fucking good. Especially… "And I lowered my head so I could whisper the next part into her ear, "Especially when I'm inside you. That feels so good. You're so fucking warm, Sookie. You're warm and wet and just fucking made for me." I placed a kiss just below her ear.

Sookie didn't say anything to that, but she was breathing really hard and her hips were starting to move of their own accord.

I knelt next to her and placing my hands on her hips I pulled her up so she was on all fours. We didn't do this often, but I wanted it today. Somewhere inside me I was aware there was an element of claiming her in this position, but she wasn't complaining so I figured it wasn't an issue. And anyway, she was mine.

I shuffled over so I was kneeling directly behind her and with one hand on her hip, I pushed in. Yeah, that felt fucking good in that position too. Sookie glanced back at me and smiled. I started to move. Fuck, I thought, I'm maybe not going to last long at all like this either.

I reached around and cupped Sookie's breasts, the weight of them falling into my palms. I kneaded them gently for a while, and then moved one hand down to rub her clit. A few minutes of that and Sookie was bucking against me and coming hard. "Eric!" she cried.

I started moving with more force. I didn't want to hurt her, and I really hoped I wasn't, but I was really enjoying this position. And how wet she was. Fuck. I gripped her hips and kept thrusting and then I came as well.

Sookie collapsed and I pulled out and lay next to her. She looked at me. "So" she asked. "How was the research?"

"Um, yeah" I said, still not really forming coherent thoughts. "It was great. I think that position works too."

"Well, we can try some others later on" Sookie said, "That's if you haven't worn yourself out already?"

"No, no. I think I can muster some energy for some more…later on." I glanced at the clock. "Now we have to get ready for dinner though."

"Ooh, where are we going?" Sookie asked, looking way perkier than I was feeling. How come this didn't wear her out? I could have done with a nap about then, but we really didn't have time.

"It's a surprise, so you'll find out later. Now, we have to go and see if we can both fit in that shower." I dragged myself off the bed and held out my hand to Sookie.

"I wonder if they have fancy bath products?" she asked, half to herself I think. "Maybe there'll be something that will make me smell like food?"

"Yeah, I hope not" I said, looking at her. "It's going to be hard enough to leave the room as it is."

**A/N The Wahine disaster occurred on 10 April 1968 when a passenger ferry in the Cook Strait (which is between the North and South Islands) capsized with an official death toll of 53.**

**I haven't based the hotel they're staying in on any one particular place, so I can't give you a link, but if you're interested in Waiheke check out www (dot) waiheke (dot) co (dot) nz.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N Thanks again for the lovely reviews! And now the rest of the trip to Waiheke...**

**Disclaimer: Not mine. **

SPOV

We both did fit in the shower in the room, which was nice. Getting out of the shower though was the problem. Eric was really enjoying not using condoms. _Really _enjoying it. I was slightly worried he was going to forget to feed me and just keep us both in the room for the rest of the trip. He seemed to forget what he'd said previously about me being too short for shower sex and was trying to persuade me to give that a go, and it was only when I reminded him that we'd missed lunch along the way that he relented and decided that maybe we could go to dinner as planned.

Eric had stashed whatever it was that had come out of his suitcase in the one bag we'd taken to Waiheke. So I wasn't allowed access to it, which was helpful when we were getting ready.

"I need my bra" I said to Eric, while I was standing there wrapped in a towel.

"Um…this one?" he said, holding up a plain pink t-shirt bra.

"No, the other one. The black one. And the matching knickers, thanks. I also need my make up bag, and my high heels, and my dress. No, that's a skirt. The dress Eric, the dress. The only dress that's in there." We got there in the end, but my patience was wearing a bit thin. "Look I'm going in the bathroom to dry my hair, why don't you stash whatever-it-is in a drawer somewhere?" I asked him.

Eric looked a bit conflicted. "You sure you won't look?"

"I'm sure. But it will just be a lot easier if I can get into that bag occasionally."

He sighed. "Yeah, I guess so. But I kind of like being in charge of dressing you."

"What are you going to do? Hold my knickers hostage or something?" I could see in his face how good an idea he thought that was.

"Shit" he said. "I didn't think of that. I could have held on to all your underwear."

I sighed. "Thank goodness for that. Right, off to dry my hair." I went back to the bathroom and left him to it.

When I emerged Eric had got as far as putting underwear on and was watching TV. "So you're ready then?" I asked.

"What? I was waiting for you. There's no point getting dressed ahead of time, it's too hot and sticky." Eric reluctantly found his shirt and trousers and got dressed, while I sat and waited for him.

"So where are we going?" I asked.

"It's a surprise" Eric said, looking around to make sure he had everything. "OK, let's go."

We walked out of our little chalet and over to the main building. Outside the reception area there was a taxi waiting, and I assumed it was for us. Well it was definitely ours once we got into it I guessed.

Eric seemed a bit taken aback by the fact that there was a young boy sitting on the passenger seat, but that's probably because he hadn't caught a taxi on Waiheke before. It was a lot more relaxed over here.

"Um, you know where we're going?" Eric asked the driver, obviously reluctant to give the game away just yet.

"Yep, no worries mate" the driver said, starting the car.

"Are you American?" the boy in the front asked Eric.

"Yeah" Eric said a bit warily, not sure where this was going.

"Cool. Do you have a gun?" he continued, which made the driver, who I assumed was his dad, turn to him and say "Stephen!" sharply. "You can't ask people that."

"Well he might do!" the kid said.

"No, I don't" Eric volunteered.

"Oh" said the boy, sounding completely disappointed. "I thought everyone in America had guns." He slumped down in the seat, having decided Eric was a dead loss.

Eric looked at me and raised his eyebrows. I leaned over and whispered "We have strict gun laws; they're not as prevalent here. Even the police don't carry them. And we think you lot are all shooting each other merrily all the time."

Eric nodded, but looked slightly bewildered all the same. I guess he wasn't used to being seen as a total outsider, kind of glamorous and foreign.

We carried on in silence until we reached our destination. "Oh, yay, Mudbrick!" I said, recognising where we were pulling into. I looked at over at Eric who was smiling at me. At least this time I hadn't blurted out anything about loving it here. Which I did. But it would rub Eric's nose in it that I'd been here before. With Bill.

It had been Valentine's Day not long after we were married, and it was, in all honesty, a really nice day. I guess I kind of knew that it was OK that I had some happy memories with Bill, that we were together a long time and had two kids and well, that's life. But I didn't think Eric necessarily needed to know in great detail what those memories were.

And of course thinking about Valentine's Day reminded me that was coming up. I guess this would have to count as an early Valentine's because I doubted my ability to rustle up a babysitter next week.

The taxi stopped and Eric paid then got out, and then helped me get out. "Enjoy your night. Call me when you need to get back" the driver said, handing his card out the window to Eric.

"OK, thanks" Eric said, as they drove off. Then he turned to me. "Fancy a wine tasting?" he asked.

"Yes! Although it's probably a bit dangerous on an empty stomach."

Eric shrugged as we started to walk towards the cellar. "It's only a tasting Sookie; you're not supposed to throw back whole bottles of the stuff."

Eric paid for us and the guy doing the tastings poured the first selection, then the second and the third. By the fourth I was feeling a bit buzzy. But I was really enjoying myself.

I got through my five tastes without falling over, although I was definitely feeling the effects. Eric was looking pretty happy too, but who knows, maybe that was the sex rather than the wine. When we'd finished the tasting Eric asked me what I'd liked the best and I couldn't decide. They were all really nice. So we ended up buying about four bottles of various wines to take away with us. They really know what they're doing with those tastings.

Then we walked over to the restaurant. Well, Eric walked. I kind of hung on to Eric and muttered a lot about how it's hard to negotiate gravel in high heels.

I was glad when we were seated at the table and I could get off my feet. I took a big drink of water, and hoped the waitress would be here soon. I needed food and I needed it now.

Eric must have noticed me looking around because he leaned over and asked "Are you OK?"

"Oh yeah. I'm great. I'm just starving!"

Eric smirked. "No you're not" he said. "You're just a bit hungry."

"Why does everyone throw that back in my face?" I huffed. "Anyway, it's your fault. You're the one who wants to have sex all afternoon and then doesn't feed me. Seriously, Eric. If we're going to keep having that much sex then we need to buy some snacks to keep in the room with us. I'm not sure I'll have the energy otherwise." I stopped when I noticed Eric's eyes were sliding towards my left and his eyebrows were raised. That's when I realised the waitress was standing there. Bum. I tried not blush, but it was a losing battle.

"Can I get you anything to start with?" she asked.

"Bread and olives for two, please" Eric said. Thank God he could form sentences, I thought, otherwise I'd be stuck here, still hungry and embarrassed to boot.

"And to drink?" she asked.

"Sookie?" Eric asked me.

"Um, something bubbly?" I asked. Well, why the hell not? It wasn't like I could do more damage. And there was food coming.

Eric ordered two glasses of the method traditionnelle, and the waitress left. I put my head down on the table. "Aaargh" I said. "That was embarrassing."

"Why?" Eric asked.

I looked up. "Well, you know. Because of my tirade about not being fed because we were too busy having sex. The waitress does not need to know what I was doing all afternoon."

Eric shrugged. "I don't care. I think it's kind of cool you picked sex with me over food. And anyway, she's a waitress, she's probably heard worse."

"You think so?"

"Definitely. Waitresses probably hear all sorts of weird things."

"Yeah, you're probably right." He probably was right. I decided to just get on with it.

The bread and olives arrived and we got through those rather quickly. I was still pretty hungry though. We discussed what we were ordering, which caused some minor confusion because entrée does not mean the same thing to me that it does to Eric. He was having oysters and steak because he needed his strength. When he said that he sort of looked at me for confirmation, and I tried to give him a look that said "I'm not a sure thing" but I think I might have failed. It was hopeless, really. I went with scallops and salmon because I loved getting seafood when I'm out.

EPOV

The evening was going well. Sookie had obviously been here before, it pretty evident from the way she knew where everything was for one thing. But she wasn't volunteering details and I wasn't asking.

She was funny when she got all embarrassed about what the waitress might have heard. I honestly don't think she heard any of it, but I wasn't about to tell Sookie that. It was much more fun to watch her squirm, thinking the girl had heard her talk about the fact we'd had sex. As if that would be news. Sookie's so straight-laced sometimes; she just needs to loosen up a bit.

Although the wine went straight to her head so there was hope for later on in the evening.

We were both hungry and the bread and olives we ordered disappeared pretty quickly. Along with the glasses of champagne. Then it was onto appetisers, or entrees, or whatever the fuck the next course was. I couldn't understand why they had to be different in this country. Still I enjoyed my oysters. Sookie had a couple too after she negotiated to swap for some of her scallops. She can drive a hard bargain when she wants to.

As we were sitting there between courses, sipping some more wine, I took a deep breath and thought about what I wanted to say next. "Sookie" I said, to get her attention. She'd been staring out the window at the Auckland skyline far in the distance.

"Yeah" she said, looking at me again.

"So, um. Look, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for putting you through all of that…when I went away. When you thought I wouldn't come back. I really am sorry."

Sookie reached across the table to grab my hand. "I know, Eric. I do. It was scary, but we got through it OK. I was just sad you had to go through all that shit with your dad."

"Yeah, it wasn't good. But, look, I just want to run something past you, OK?"

"Yeah, OK."

"So, um, you know how we're getting married?" Shit, I thought. Of course she knew that. But she just smiled and nodded, so I went on. "Well you said you didn't want a ring. And I get that, I really do. I understand all the reasons you gave. But I still really want to give you one, and I just want you to listen to my reasons for doing it, OK?"

Sookie nodded again, so I continued. "I just, well, I want it to be my promise to you. It's so you know that I will always come back. That you're the one thing I can count on. That we're the thing I can count on. So, just…yeah. That's why. That's why I want to get you one. So you know." I stopped talking; hoping that was enough, that she got what I was trying to tell her.

Sookie looked at me. "OK" she said.

"OK?" I asked, checking that I'd heard right.

"Yeah, why not? I meant I don't want to fight over a piece of jewellery, and I don't want to throw a gift back in your face. But, just…not too expensive, OK?"

"Yeah, yeah. It'll be great." I stood up and leaned over the table to kiss her, before sitting back down. "I'll take you to the jeweller who made your necklace, I've already talked to him and we had some ideas…" I trailed off, realising Sookie was laughing to herself. "What?"

"Oh you! You were convinced you were going to get there in the end weren't you?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, I'm irresistible. Hey, food's coming." The waitress was coming towards the table with what I really hoped was my steak.

The steak was very good. I was pretty sure I'd recovered whatever energy I'd expended that afternoon, I was really hoping to be expending some more energy later on.

SPOV

Dinner was lovely, it really was. The funniest bit was having to share all my dinner with Eric. It's not that he doesn't share as well, although he did grumble a bit that I took too much steak, but it's just I always order seafood from habit. Because I didn't get it at home. Because Bill didn't eat it. So if I had seafood when I was out it was a treat and I didn't have to share. In fact sometimes he even moaned about having to kiss me after I'd had seafood. But that wasn't a problem I had with Eric.

Eric, obviously, pretty much eats everything. I'll have to remember to cook fish at home more often, I thought. I asked Eric whether he thought he could grill salmon on the barbecue and he got all enthusiastic so maybe I'd get him to do it instead.

After a rather nice crème brulee and some dessert wine and coffee we jumped back into the taxi, which was waiting for us. Eric had phoned him while we were finishing up.

"No Stephen?" I asked as I climbed in the back.

"Nope. He's at home now his mum's finished work. It's his bedtime anyway."

"I don't know how you manage" I said. "I couldn't drive around with my daughter all day; she'd drive me bananas with all the chatter!"

The driver laughed, and so did Eric. "Yeah, girls are like that. I've got some, but they're a lot older. It's just Stephen who needs watching. How many kids have you got?"

"Two" Eric chimed in, obviously warming up to this sharing with strangers thing. Me, I liked chatting with taxi drivers. They were usually interesting, and pretty friendly.

"Yeah, two's a good number. Stick with that" the driver said, making a sharp turn in the car.

"How many kids have you got?" I asked.

"Four, but some of them have left home now."

"Wow. That's a lot of kids. That would be hard work. Yeah, maybe two is better" I said.

"I don't know" Eric said. "I think four would be OK. I think we could handle four."

I laughed. "Yeah, 'cos you're the one who has to have them. Maybe we should just get more cats instead. Kittens are really cute! And easy to toilet train."

Eric pulled a face and I laughed at him. "Cat's aren't quite the same you know Sookie."

"No. Sometimes they're better."

"Not when they bring rats in."

"Our cat came home with a rabbit not long ago" the driver chimed in.

"Oooh, was it a pet?" I asked.

"I really hope not!" the driver laughed.

We pulled up at the hotel and Eric paid the driver. "Have a good night, you two" he said.

"Yeah, you as well" I replied.

"He was nice" I said to Eric as we walked to chalet.

"Yeah" Eric agreed. "Very, um, talkative."

We walked into the room and I kicked off my shoes. "That's better" I said.

Eric laughed. "It's funny watching you just suddenly shrink like that" he said.

"Shut up. Not all of us are ten feet tall."

"So" Eric began, coming to stand behind me and putting his hands on my waist. "Shall we try the bath?" He nuzzled my neck and pulled me against him.

"Um, will we fit?" I asked.

Eric walked over to the bathtub and looked at it seriously, then looked at me. "I think we're good" he said, starting to open the window shutters.

"Hang on!" I yelled. "Wait until we're in there, and the light's off, otherwise everyone can see me getting undressed in the room."

Eric rolled his eyes. "Who Sookie?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. People. Out there." I pointed to the window.

"Fine." Eric started getting undressed, and I did the same, while the bath filled up. When it was ready he poured two glasses of champagne from some that must have been in the room when we arrived, put them beside the bath along with some towels, and waited for me to get in before he turned off the light.

"OK" he said. "Well this makes it a bit fucking hard. Ow! Fuck." He stumbled into something on his way across the room to the bath.

"Sorry" I said as he pushed the shutters of the window open, before climbing into the other end of the bath.

"Yeah, well you can make it up to me later on" he said, as we clinked glasses.

The bath was lovely. We sat there and looked at the stars, the night was so warm and there was only a slight breeze coming through the window. I had the water to keep me warm though, and Eric. At one point I sort of sloshed around to change positions so I was leaning against him. That was nice too. I was starting to feel a bit sleepy, when Eric whispered in my ear "So, bed now?"

"Yeah, bed. Before I doze off in here."

"Yeah, no sleeping yet" Eric said. "I fed you and everything, so you're not allowed to doze off."

He stood up and grabbed a towel to wrap around himself, and then he held out his hand to pull me up, and then he wrapped me in a towel and picked me up. "Oooh, look out!" I said.

"I'm fine" Eric said, picking his way carefully to the bed. "I've adjusted to the dark now." He threw me onto the bed and then dropped his towel and lay down next to me, before trying to pull my towel off.

"You're dry enough" he announced.

I could have argued on that point, as really I was still mostly damp, but Eric was busy kissing me, so that shut me up. He'd lost the frantic energy he'd had earlier in the afternoon, when he'd first been discovering the delights of not using a condom, and now he was much more focussed and intense. He spent a long time just running his hands over me and I shivered under his touch. And when he entered me it was his turn to shiver. "Still better?" I asked. "So much better" he agreed, before we both stopped talking for a while.

EPOV

When I woke up in the morning it was really light. And I was dimly aware that something fucking nice was happening. After a couple of seconds I realised what. Fuck. Sookie had woken me up, and my cock was in her mouth.

"Oh fuck" I said aloud.

"Morning" Sookie said, in a kind of muffled way, as she didn't remove her mouth to say it. Fuck, the vibrations from that were really good. So I just lay there for a bit enjoying the sensations her hot, wet mouth were creating. And then it dawned on me that without the need for a condom, there were other parts of Sookie that were warm and wet and which would create other really, really fucking great sensations too.

"Sookie?" I asked, tapping her on the shoulder. "Sookie, hang on for a minute." She stopped and I immediately questioned my decision as my cock wasn't really enjoying the loss of her mouth at all.

Sookie moved up the bed so she was facing me. "Awake now?" she asked.

"Uh-huh" I said. "That was a fucking great way to wake up."

"Well, I've been awake for a while. I'm on baby-time. And you're really hard to wake up. And now you're just really hard!" she said, giggling.

"Let's see what you are then" I said, slipping my hand between her legs. Fuck, she was dripping. "Oh, Sookie. You're really fucking ready, aren't you?"

She suddenly looked serious. "Oh yes. Haven't you figured out by now, Eric, that I always get wet sucking your cock?" she said, seductively. Fuck, I didn't know what had happened to Sookie's inhibitions overnight, but this was great. It might work out well for what I had planned for that night.

"Wet's good" I said, a bit breathlessly. "Wet's very good." I moved up the bed so I was leaning against a pile of pillows. "Why don't you come here and show me just what you can do with that?"

SPOV

I was having a great time on holiday, despite the fact I woke up way too early. It was a lot of fun figuring out how I was going to wake Eric up though. And then actually doing it was even more entertaining. I swear that for about 10 seconds Eric was actually speechless. And then he was back to his old self trying to persuade me to be on top. Yeah, well, I let him think I need persuading.

Once we managed to leave the bed and hit the shower he tried to persuade me to have sex there, but honestly, I was still unconvinced about the height thing. And I wanted to get out and do stuff. Eric rolled his eyes at that, but went along with it.

We had a great day wandering around Oneroa and looking at all the tourist shops, it was fun to see how all the shop assistants fawned over Eric and mostly ignored me. I was never sure whether it was the way he looked or the fact he had a much greater chance of actually being a tourist that drew them to him, but whatever it was, he was popular.

We bought lunch in town and had a picnic on the beach. I tried to persuade Eric to go swimming with me, but he wasn't keen. He said the pool at the hotel would be much more civilised. So we headed back there and I finally got him in the water with me. Which meant that he followed me around the pool trying to get my swimsuit top off. He's incorrigible, he really is.

We decided to have dinner on the deck of the chalet, so ordered room service and they came and they set it up for us. I could really get used to all this service. Home would be sooo much better if it had room service on tap. We sat on the deck and watched the sun go down and I started to wonder if I ever really wanted to go back. I missed the kids, but Auckland was only a ferry ride away. Judith and Calvin could bring them over for visits.

I'd been wondering idly when I was going to find out what exactly it was that Eric had stashed away for me, but I found out after we went back into the chalet. He pulled something out of one of the drawers and laid it on the bed for me.

I opened the box under Eric's watchful gaze. I guess he was waiting to see my reaction. It was lingerie. I picked up the bra and looked it at. It was black lace, not too slutty, seemed like the right size. I pulled out the other pieces; garter belt, panties with little ties at the sides, proper stockings. Nothing too terrible at all.

"It's lovely" I said, smiling at Eric. "Shall I go and put it on then?"

"There's a catch" he said. "If you put it on, you have to take it off."

"Well, yeah" I said. "I assumed it wasn't staying on forever. And anyway, I don't think you can sleep in garter belts. They wouldn't be comfy."

"Uh, no" Eric said. "I mean, take it off. Like, strip. For me." He smiled in a way that was obviously meant to be comforting, or encouraging, or something.

"Ohhh" I said, the realisation of what he wanted hitting me. "No, I'd be too self-conscious."

"Really?" Eric asked. "I thought you'd lost that. And you're a great dancer. And I promise you…" he moved over and started kissing my neck, "you'll have a very appreciative audience."

"Yeah, I'm just not sure about the audience bit…" I said, biting my lip. It wasn't that bad, I realised. But still. I wasn't sure about it.

"Look" Eric said, pulling back. "Just go and put it on and then give it a go. I promise if it's too horrible you can stop. But we can…think of this as an early Valentine's present for me. OK?"

Well, I liked the idea of not having to think of something to buy him for Valentine's. "OK" I said, going into the bathroom to get changed.

"Sookie" Eric called out. "Don't forget shoes. You need to put your heels on."

"Oh, OK." I said, going back to collect them as well. "You've been, um, planning this for a while then?" I asked, heading back to the bathroom.

"Oh yes" Eric said, looking pretty happy.

I changed into the outfit. It fit pretty well. There was a bit of spillage going on with the bra, but then it wasn't staying on for long.

When I came out, Eric had dimmed the lights and had stripped down to his boxer-briefs, which made me laugh. "What?" he asked. "It's for moral support."

"Of course it is" I said. Eric put the radio on and sat on the bed looking at me expectantly. I froze on the spot, I felt awful, but I just couldn't do it.

Eric sighed. "How about if we just dance for a bit?" he said, standing up.

I nodded. That was better, I just leaned into him and we softly swayed and I forgot about the whole stripping thing. "You know with you barefoot and me in heels the height thing works a lot better" I commented.

"Mmm" Eric agreed. "Maybe you should wear heels in the shower."

Just then a song came on I recognised, one from my childhood that I think my dad had liked. Be Mine Tonight. It seemed kind of appropriate. I suddenly thought that maybe I could do this.

"OK" I said to Eric. "Sit down then, if you're the audience."

He didn't say anything, but looked pretty pleased as he took his seat. I stayed where I was and started to sway. At first I couldn't look at Eric, it was better if I just concentrated on the music and pretended I was alone. And then I looked at him and there was something about the way he was watching me that just caused me to snap. I realised just what an effect I was having on him and it was really empowering. Well, I thought, it only took me 34 years, two kids, a spectacularly failed marriage and Eric Northman to help me find my inner sex kitten.

I moved closer to Eric being careful to keep out of arm's reach, which isn't easy as he has quite long arms. I was getting into it now. I bent over and straightened back up as seductively as I could. And then I slowly shimmied out of the bra and tossed it aside, which made Eric look quite glassy-eyed.

I went over to him and backed up, with my legs either side of his. I let him run his hands over my bum, but moved away before he could reach around and grab my boobs. He groaned, but when I turned back to look at him he was smiling, so I guess I wasn't being that mean.

I carried on with my dance, watching Eric watching me. I moved close enough so that he managed to run his hands over my breasts once, but then I moved them off and backed away again. I reached down to the sides of the panties and untied the strings and then pulled them off.

"Your turn" I said to Eric, reaching over and grabbing the waistband of his boxer briefs. He lifted his hips so I could pull them down and off and then I knelt astride him on the bed and put my hands on his shoulders. He ran a hand down my side to where the stocking was still on my leg. "Uh, leave these on, OK?" he asked, in a really thick voice.

"OK" I agreed, as I started to rub myself up and down against his penis. "So was that alright?" I asked. "I mean, you know. What's the audience's feedback for that?"

"Well" Eric said, removing his mouth from my breast. "The audience really, really wants to fuck the entertainment about now. Is that allowed do you think?"

"Oh, I definitely think that's allowed" I said as Eric pulled us over and pinned me underneath him.

Later on, when I'd finally persuaded Eric to let me take off the garter belt and stockings, and I was lying in the dark listening to him snore quietly, I realised I was going to have to come up with something to tell people when they asked how this trip was. I couldn't exactly blurt out that I'd had a lot of hot sex and figured out I could perform a mean striptease when Judith asked me, could I?

I sighed. Maybe I'd just talk about how lucky we were with the weather for this trip I thought. Yeah, that usually works. The weather is always a safe topic. And on that thought, I drifted off to sleep as well.

**A/N For more about Mudbrick check out www (dot) mudbrick (dot) co (dot) nz. And if you want to hear the song (remember it's quite old and fashions have moved on a bit) check out www (dot) youtube (dot) com/watch?v=8sZQIxDZKac**

**Thanks for reading!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N Thanks again for the reviews! Glad everyone enjoyed Waiheke!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

EPOV

The fairy in front of me was getting slowly more annoyed. I could tell we'd be on to foot stomping any minute now. It was probably my own fault for paying more attention to her boobs than what she was actually saying.

"Are you even listening to me, Eric?" Sookie asked, poking me with her wand.

"Ow!" I said. "Fuck! You're getting far too attached to that thing."

"Well it's coming in handy for getting your attention, when you're obviously just standing there staring at my boobs."

"What? No, I'm not." Fuck, I thought, was I really that obvious?

"Yes you were" Sookie sighed. "I can see exactly what you're doing. And no, not wearing a bra with this dress. Anything else you want to know?"

"Um…panties?"

"Yes, Eric, of course I decided that it was a brilliant idea not to wear any knickers under a sun dress to a children's birthday party! What do you think?"

I shrugged. I guess that was a no then. "The dress is nice though" I said, trying to get back to something happier. It was bright pink and matched the pink of the fairy wings she was wearing. Fairy wings which Amelia hadn't been thrilled about her mother borrowing, especially for a party that wasn't hers.

"Thank you. But can you go and move that stuff now?" I tried desperately to remember what Sookie had been saying earlier and failed miserably. She sighed. "I said move the climbing frame thing and the see-saws to that end of the garden by the trampoline, so that we can fit the table over there."

"Oh, OK." I said and went off to do as I'd been asked, before Sookie got any more stressed. You could practically feel the tension coming off her at the moment and it wasn't always pleasant to be around. It didn't matter how many times I told her it was all going to be OK, all she did was snap at me. So I'd given up.

I hauled the ugly plastic cube with its slides over by the trampoline. I had recently discovered there was a place where you could go to hire a whole heap of plastic shit to fill up your garden for occasions like this party, or maybe even just for the hell of it. So in addition to the trampoline, we now had this tower thing with two slides, some see-saws, a large plastic car, a playhouse and something that was described as a rollercoaster, but was actually a small ride-on which went along a short plastic track. Amelia loved that. Mostly I think she loved that Felicia couldn't go on it yet.

So the garden was pretty full up, and none of the guests were here yet. Sookie was back in the kitchen trying to finish up the food, well, the food she was doing. Which surely had to be all of it, judging from the amount she'd made. But apparently Judith was bringing the other half with her. Amelia was dancing around trying to get everyone's attention and being really annoyed that it wasn't all about her. At one stage she was so annoyed by the whole idea of a party that wasn't for her she'd tried to insist that she wasn't coming as a fairy like the rest of the family, and wanted to be a witch instead. It had taken Sookie buying her a new set of wings from the $2 shop in order to change her mind on that issue.

Mostly I was just glad no one had suggested that I wear any wings today.

SPOV

I was really starting to regret agreeing to co-host this party with Judith. I realised that she was getting married the next weekend, and therefore the whole throwing a second birthday party thing might have been a bit difficult for her, but really, I did feel like I was doing a lot of the work. And as a reward, I got the Comptons descending en masse. Urgh.

We'd split up the food so Judith was bringing the hot food, which meant she could buy pizzas and sausage rolls and cocktail sausages and potato chips, rather than having to create a lot of stuff. Me, I'd been baking. I'd made neenish tarts, butterfly cakes, Afghans (two batches of those because Eric, Amelia and Felicia got into the first lot and none of them even had the decency to look guilty when I caught them covered in crumbs). I'd made cupcakes, and chocolate chip biscuits with condensed milk in them, and some kebabs with fruit and marshmallows threaded onto the sticks. Amelia had pilfered a few of those already. And of course we had fairy bread, because what is a birthday party without fairy bread?

So I was almost there. The garden was full of activities for the kids. The party games were organised, Eric had been out and picked up the birthday cakes this morning. I knew where the candles were. I just had to find the lighter, I thought. And then I heard the doorbell ring.

I opened the door and Calvin was standing there, holding several bags and chilly bins. "Hi" I said, as he kissed me on the cheek. "Bring those into the kitchen."

"Hi Sookie" Calvin said. "Looks like we've got the weather for it."

"Yeah" I agreed. "Well the kids will enjoy it."

"Mmm. Great day for being outside." Calvin headed off to the kitchen. I knew what he was getting at. Being South African he didn't think it was a gathering unless we were barbecuing. I'd said no, because I'd realised that if we started handing out beer and steak to the adults I wouldn't be getting rid of some of these people until well into the evening. Calvin, however, was undeterred. And a little sneaky. Because he'd had another go at suggesting the same thing to Eric when they'd gone running. Eric at least had the good sense to say he'd run it past me first, and when I'd explained whey I'd already said no, he understood. But I think Calvin was still a bit cheated out of the whole thing. Well, he could do this at their place next year and barbecue whatever he wanted.

Jessica raced in next, brushed past me, nearly caught her fairy wings on the corner of the hallway, and headed after her Dad. She was followed by Judith, who was carrying a whole lot more stuff. "Hi" she said. "We made it; it was a nightmare getting Jessica to wear a dress. I like your wings!"

"Yeah, they're Amelia's. She's not happy I'm wearing them."

"Well, it's a fairy themed party." Judith was carrying her own wings. The theme had been her idea and I'd gone along with it, I didn't think Felicia was likely to care what we did. Amelia, however, thought we'd stolen her lifestyle or something.

We went into the kitchen to put the food she'd brought in the oven. Eric had come inside and was talking to Calvin. Felicia was clutching Eric's leg and staring warily at Jessica, who was merrily unpacking Felicia's toybox and Amelia was nowhere to be found.

"Amelia" I yelled.

"What?" came the reply from down the hall.

"Do you want to come and say hello?"

There was a bit of stomping and then she appeared. I'd bought new outfits for the party; Amelia had a very pretty yellow dress with pink flowers, and pink wings and tiara. Felicia had a long, swing top in the same fabric with pink leggings; I thought a dress would really be a bit wasted on someone who still crawled a lot of the time. And I had discovered that it wasn't a good idea to buy the pair of them completely identical clothes the day I'd found Felicia wearing a pair of Amelia's leggings after Eric had dressed her. He hadn't actually thought to query why she was drowning in them; he'd just assumed they were hers.

Amelia took one look at Felicia and Jessica and took off her wings. "I don't want to be a fairy. I want to be a witch!" she yelled, and went back down the hall.

"Crap" I said, taking off the oven gloves I was wearing. "She's been a pain about this whole thing. I'll go and talk to her."

"Uh, no. It's OK I'll go" Eric said, going after her.

I hoped he knew what he was doing, because I needed her to behave for the party. A stomping 3 year old witch-wannabe was not going to be the best addition to the afternoon. In the meantime, though, I had to get on with getting the food sorted before the guests arrived any minute.

EPOV

Amelia was determined that she wasn't going to enjoy this party and I really didn't need her sending Sookie into the abyss of stress she was teetering on. I suspected that if Sookie came down here there'd be a fair amount of shouting and stomping from both of them and we really didn't need that. As it was I heard someone arrive at the front door and I guessed the party was about to start.

Amelia was sitting on her bed with her arms crossed when I got to her. "It's not fair" she huffed.

"What's not?" I said sitting down.

"I don't get a party."

"Well, you get a party next month. Remember, you already made a list of who you want to invite from pre-school." It was a fucking long list. Sookie was trying to come up with a way to get her to reduce it a bit.

"But I want a party now! Felicia gets one, Jessica gets one. But not me. And they're being fairies!"

"Well, that's OK, isn't it?"

"NO!"

"Why not?"

Amelia thought for a bit. "Because" she said eventually.

"Um, why?"

Amelia sighed, and she sounded exactly like Sookie when she thought I was being particularly stupid. "Because I'm the fairy, and they're…they're just babies."

"Well, they're getting older. Jessica's two now, and Felicia will be one."

"They're BABIES! Babies can't be fairies. Babies are just babies."

"Um, could they be baby fairies?"

Amelia shrugged, but didn't look convinced. "They could be baby fairies and maybe you could show them what you're supposed to do as fairies?" Amelia looked at me, slightly interested in what I was saying. "They might not understand everything a fairy has to do, but you do, because you're 3."

"I'm nearly 4."

"Exactly, so you know what fairies do, and you can show them."

Amelia narrowed her eyes. "Show them what?" She was determined not to make this too easy for me.

"Um, like, maybe pretend-flying?"

"I think they're too little to fly. It wouldn't be good. They might bump into things and hurt themselves."

"Oh, OK then. Um, what about fairy dancing?"

"Felicia falls over. All the time!"

"Um, what about…" I was starting to struggle with this now. "What about just showing them how to be nice to people? Fairies do that, don't they?"

"Well…"

"I'm pretty sure Tinkerbell is nice to people." Actually, from what I'd seen Tinkerbell stomped around a lot, but we wouldn't go there.

"Sometimes…" Amelia admitted.

"Yeah, so, you know, you can be nice to all the other kids who come. Maybe greet them and stuff. A lot of them will be younger than you of course."

Amelia's eyes lit up. "Do I get to be in charge?" she asked.

"Well, sort of. In charge of making sure everyone is nice to everyone else." I hoped that was vague enough not to cause any problems. "So why don't you go and put on your wings and say hello to some of the people, OK?"

Amelia smiled. "Yeah. OK. I'm the in charge fairy, which is better than the underpants fairy, isn't it Eric?"

"Well, your mom's the underpants fairy…"

"Mum. But I'm better, aren't I?" Fuck, she was a pushy little thing, even at 3, or nearly 4, or whatever.

"Maybe" I said, slowly, trying to think of a way of getting myself out of this corner. "Maybe if you're very good at helping people and other fairies, you'll grow up to be an underpants fairy." Amelia gave me a look that said that sounded like a really stupid ambition, but she sort of shrugged and took off out of her room.

When I got back to the family room she'd retrieved her wings and was yelling "Come on, Jessica! We have to go to the door!" Jessica trotted after Amelia and they got there just as some more guests arrived. "I'm Amelia" I could hear Amelia shout to them. "This is Jessica. She's sort of a baby. But that's OK. I'm in charge of her. Say hello, Jessica." Jessica started to make a noise, but Amelia continued on over the top of her. "She doesn't talk. Felicia doesn't talk either. My mum's the underpants fairy, what kind of fairy are you?"

I figured all was as good as could be expected there, and went outside to find Sookie and see if she needed any help. She was out putting food on a table with Felicia hanging on to her leg. As soon as she saw me Felicia switched allegiance and shouted "Bub! Bub! Dee!" while grabbing my leg.

"How's Amelia?" Sookie asked.

"OK, I think. She's at the front door greeting people now."

Sookie laughed. "I hope she doesn't scare anyone off!"

"Yeah, well. I think mostly you have to worry about everyone knowing you're the underpants fairy."

Sookie looked at me and sighed. "Well" she said. "I guess it's a good thing I'm wearing some then."

SPOV

Our backyard was soon looking pretty full. There were kids everywhere, all over the plastic toys we'd hired and several were bouncing on the trampoline. I hoped Eric was keeping an eye on them because I'd delegated that job to him and when I last saw him he was standing with a group of the other guys, in that sort of dad's club thing you always get at kid's parties.

Lorena had arrived and was sitting on the deck in the shade away from the rest of the guests, nursing the cup of tea I'd made for her. I'd had to listen to the story of how terrible her stomach bug, or possibly food poisoning had been after she visited here the last time. I wasn't sure that she was going to actually eat anything today. But there wasn't much I could do.

Portia on the other hand wasn't holding back, and neither was Glen. They were terrible for using these occasions to eat enough for the whole day. Luckily we had lots of food, although I noticed that the fairy bread wasn't as popular as it was in my day. When I was a kid it was the first thing to go at any party.

There was also a truck-load of people here that I didn't know from a bar of soap. I'd been introduced to a lot of them of course, but after a while they all blended together. I was a bit busy organising food and trying to keep an eye on the kids to really spend any time with them as it was.

As I was carrying some of the empty plates back into the house, I turned back and watched Eric scoop Felicia up and throw her in the air several times. He might regret that, I thought to myself. Sure enough, soon there was almost a queue of kids forming next to him to be thrown in the air. Funny how we had all that stuff to play with in the backyard and all the kids still wanted to be thrown in the air by someone's dad.

I stopped by Lorena's seat. "Anything I can get you?" I asked her.

"No, thank-you Sookie. I'm still recovering so I'm not eating a lot. My doctor says I have to be careful though not to lose too much weight, because I don't carry much as it is." She gave me a pointed a look which told me exactly what she thought about my weight. "Eric's back I see" she said, looking over to where he was tossing Jessica in the air.

"Yeah, he was only away for a couple of weeks."

"Mmmm" Lorena said. I waited for the next snarky comment, or dig at me, but nothing came. Instead she just looked sad. Which made me think that maybe she was missing Bill. But all she said was "Malcolm used to go away. A lot. For his job."

"Must have been hard" I said. "When you had five kids to look after alone."

"Yes, it was. But they were good children. And Bill was a help. He was always so good with the girls."

"Yeah, he was." I remembered him telling me how he'd been in charge of making sure all his sisters got to school on the bus every morning. I'm not sure that you'd put quite all that responsibility on a 10 year old these days.

"It's a shame he isn't here" Lorena continued.

"Yes, it is."

She looked off into the distance for a bit, and then gathered herself. "But you're doing well, Sookie. You've moved on. I'm sure you're finding it helpful having a man around again."

I wasn't sure what to say to that, whatever it was she was trying to imply with it. So all I did was say "Yes, I'm very lucky. We all are. Right, well, I'm going to start rounding people up so we can cut the cake." And I left her to her memories.

EPOV

I'd managed to extricate myself from a crowd of kids who'd wanted me to throw them in the air. Fuck. I'd thought hiring all that shit would get me out of being the entertainment for the afternoon, but apparently it doesn't work that way. At least Calvin stopped laughing his ass off at me after a while and helped out a bit.

Sookie had come over to say we were cutting the cake shortly, and I'd gone around the side of the house to round up stray kids. A couple of the little boys had wandered off down there with the plastic car, and I shooed them back to the main party. Just as I was about to come around the side of the house I heard a couple of the mothers, some women I'd never met before, talking.

"Did you see him? The American?" the first one asked. And that was the giveaway they were talking about me. I didn't know what to do, if I suddenly appeared it would be awkward. I stopped where I was and thought that maybe they'd move over to the table to see the cake being cut and then I could head over there.

"Yeah" said the second voice. "He's bloody nice. Apparently he's with her, you know, the woman whose place this is."

"Really?" asked the first voice. "The blonde in the pink dress?"

"Uh-huh. She was married to Jude's brother, the nice-looking one who died. And now she's got that guy."

"Fuck. That doesn't seem fair. She's not that special. I wonder where the hell she got him from?"

By this stage I was fucking angry at the pair of them. How dare they stand there in our backyard and fucking talk about Sookie that way? I was about to round the corner of the house and tell them what stupid fucking sluts they were when I suddenly heard Sookie say "Hi there" to them. Oh fuck. I hoped she hadn't heard anything. I stayed where I was, not wanting to make the situation worse.

"So, if you guys want to come over we're about to cut the cakes" Sookie continued.

"Oh, great. OK, thanks" one of the women said. Traitorous fucking bitch.

I could hear them start to move off, and then Sookie said "Oh, and just one thing"

"Yes?" one of the bitches said.

"There's a website."

"What?"

"A website. I got him from a website. Hot American Guys dot com. You can order them. But shipping's a bitch. And they make you pay through the roof for the big ones. But it's totally worth it. Right, I better go and bring those cakes out."

I heard one of the women mumble "What a cow!" under her breath and I stayed where I was, trying really fucking hard not to laugh. Sookie was taking no fucking prisoners today and it was awesome.

Once I'd gathered myself, I headed to the table where the cakes were waiting and Sookie was trying to light candles without them being blown out by the breeze. I picked up Felicia, who had no clue what was going on and we all sang Happy Birthday to first Jessica, then Felicia. Amelia blew all their candles out in the pretext of showing them how to do it.

As Sookie was cutting one of the cakes into slices I stood behind her and bent down and kissed her shoulder. "I heard you" I whispered.

"What?" she asked, a bit distracted.

"I heard what you told those women. About how you got me from a website."

"Oh" she said, sounding a bit embarrassed. "Well, they were being really rude. Honestly, fancy talking like that at a kid's party? So, you know, I thought they deserved to be taken down a peg or two."

"Yeah, you were awesome" I said.

"Really?" she asked, looking at me over her shoulder. "It felt a bit mean. It's not exactly the best look for the hostess."

I shrugged. "They weren't exactly being good guests. But you were fucking hot."

"Yeah, you're just saying that to make me feel better."

"No, I'm not the nice one, remember? I'm saying that because you are. Really fucking hot. I'd order you from a website any day."

Sookie laughed and turned all the way around. I took the opportunity to pull her to me for a kiss. It didn't hurt at all that what I assumed were the two women I'd heard before were watching us intently. Fuck them. I had Sookie and that was what I wanted.

We pulled apart. "And what website would you get me from?" Sookie asked.

"Oh, probably Underpants Fairies Are Us or something. You know, useful and hot!"

Sookie laughed. "Yeah, that's me. Useful and hot."

"It's what every guy wants."

SPOV

I was glad when the party was over. Some of the women Judith knew were a bit bitchy. Eric might have liked me being just as much of a bitch to them, but it didn't feel that good. Well, maybe a little good. But I felt like it shouldn't.

Eric and I were sitting on the deck enjoying the early evening breeze. Amelia was on the trampoline, glad to have it back after having been forced to share it all afternoon. Felicia was puttering around on the grass. I pretended I hadn't just seen her pick up a discarded potato chip off the ground and eat it. Dirt is good for them, I reminded myself.

"So, that went OK" I said to Eric. "Now we just have the wedding. And the stag and hen's do, I guess."

"Yeah, it's a busy time of year."

"It is. And it's a stupid time to have a baby. It's sooo hot! But the payoff is the outdoor birthday parties I guess. Now we just have to get Amelia to cut her guest list down."

"Fuck yes. Today was bad enough. I don't need to be throwing twenty-five three and four year olds in the air. My back is killing me." Eric turned to me. "I might need a massage."

I rubbed his lower back. "Yeah, yeah. Well if you're good we'll see. It's a hazardous occupation,"

"What is?" Eric asked.

"Fatherhood" I said, without thinking. Then we both went a bit quiet while we processed that.

"Sookie" Eric said after a minute or two. "Do you think…I mean, I had a crappy one, but do you think…I'll be a good dad?" I looked at him; he looked really worried, like I might say no.

"Eric" I said, still rubbing his back. "I think you _are_ a good dad."

"But I'm not…" he started, before I cut him off. "Yes, you are" I said. "You're their dad. I mean, you're marrying me, who else are they going to have? And you're great at it! Really great. If you weren't then I wouldn't be marrying you. I don't need the dead weight around here."

"Oh, OK." Eric said. Then he went a bit quiet again. "So, does that mean they can call me dad?" he asked quietly.

"Well, yeah. Why not? Felicia anyway, I don't know about Amelia. I think she likes the authority that comes with yelling "Eric!" at you when she wants something. She might want to in time. But yeah, Felicia can call you Dad."

Eric smiled, which always made him look so handsome. "Wow, that's…that's really fucking great!" he said.

"Yeah, but dad's have to watch their language" I said.

"Oh, yeah. OK."

On cue Felicia half-walked and half-crawled over to the bottom of the deck. "Fa!" she yelled "Dee! Dee!"

Eric went down and picked her up. "I'm your dad" he said, looking her in the eyes. "Can you say that?"

"Mum! Mum! Bub!" Felicia said looking at me.

"Dad" Eric tried again.

"Bub! Ah!"

"Dad." He turned to me, "I guess it might take a while" he said.

Felicia pulled his sunglasses off his face and dropped them on the ground. "Dard" she said. "Dard, dard, dard."

"Yay!" Eric said, enthusiastically. "She said it! High-five!"

She slapped the hand he was holding up several times while smiling. Eric was looking really happy. Then the wind changed and I realised why she'd come over. That wasn't a good smell.

"OK, Dad" I said. "Your kid's got a really disgusting nappy on. Good luck with that, I'm going to start making sandwiches for dinner." And with that I walked into the house, listening to Eric tell Felicia "Jeez, you could have waited ten minutes, couldn't you?"

"Dard!" Felicia chanted.

**So in case you guys don't have it Fairy Bread is buttered bread with 100's and 1000's sprinkled on it. If you're being fancy, you make it into little shapes with cookie cutters. Otherwise you just cut it into little squares. And I'm not sure about the baking, I know that Australians make the same things, but if anyone wants the stuff Sookie made explained, let me know!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N Nothing new to say, except I still love all those reviews you send! You guys are choice (as Jason would say, in this story at least)!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

SPOV

By the Thursday before Judith and Calvin's wedding Eric was kind of getting into the swing of the dad thing, although he still tried to insist that it didn't really mean he had to change every nappy that Felicia managed to fill. I tried to argue that he'd missed 9 months of nappies and had to make up for it. I wasn't sure how long that argument was going to work but I was going to make the most of it while I could.

Eric still seemed pretty pleased about the whole thing. He'd dressed Felicia this morning and she was currently puttering around in a t-shirt that said 'Daddy's Little Helper' which had once belonged to Amelia. I guess that was the problem with being the second kid, you got the hand-me-downs. At any rate, neither she nor Eric was complaining.

We'd spent part of the morning out the front cleaning my car. I'd taken the car seats out and given them a really thorough cleaning. Eric was a bit horrified at the sheer amount of raisins, broken biscuits and potato chip crumbs that were encrusted in, on and around the seats. Yeah, I thought, well that will be your car soon. I did also find three of Amelia's hairclips, one of Felicia's socks and a bouncy ball of indeterminate ownership so I had something to show for all my hard work.

Unfortunately Felicia had something to show for her time spent helping us. Eric had called her over and in her haste to get to him, she'd tripped over her own feet and she had a lovely pair of skinned knees. Eric felt awful of course, but it wasn't his fault. And it wasn't the first time that was going to happen. I just felt a bit stink because when the tears hit, it wasn't me Felicia wanted at all. She wanted Eric. I guess that was the trade-off for the nappy-changing.

Afterwards, I left the car seats outside to dry and we all trooped back inside. Eric went to make some fresh coffee. I eyed the high chair critically. "You know, that could really do with being hauled outside and scrubbed down too."

"Well, I guess" Eric said, without much conviction. "If you want to."

"Not really. But it has to be done sometime. And I'm getting through all my chores."

I was finding that having two adults at home all of the time meant you could get an awful lot of stuff done. Of course it wasn't going to last. Our extended summer holiday was going to have to be over sometime. But at the moment it was nice.

"Have we got any more of the chocolate cookies with the cornflakes?" Eric asked.

"Afghans? Yeah, in the pantry." Eric was addicted to them now and I'd made another batch, with Amelia's help, after the birthday party.

"Da da dard!" Felicia yelled, somehow demonstrating a sixth sense about Eric having food that he might share.

He picked her up and put her in the highchair, then handed her half an Afghan. "C is for cookie" he said.

"That's good enough for me" I finished without even thinking. Eric and I looked at each other, and then we burst out laughing. Sometimes, between the age difference and the fact we used to live on opposite sides of the world, we didn't get the other's pop culture references. Obviously Sesame Street is the great leveller.

"So other than cleaning shit, what are we doing today?" Eric asked, helping himself to another Afghan from the biscuit tin.

"Well, I think we need to take another look at that website again, and see if there is anything that suits us. We can't stay unemployed forever." We'd been trying to find a franchise or something we could buy that would suit both of us. I needed to be doing something and Eric was adamant that he never wanted to work for anyone else again. "And then of course we've got to go out tonight." I continued.

"Oh, yeah" Eric mumbled, sounding less than enthusiastic.

"Tell you what, go and get the laptop set up so we can go through franchises again, and then, if you want, we can show Felicia stuff on the Sesame Street website."

"Oh, OK". Eric sounded a lot more enthusiastic about that. He gave Felicia another half an Afghan, which made her yell "Ta!" with her mouth full, sending a shower of crumbs everywhere.

I took a sip of coffee then the phone rang. "Hello?" I said answering it.

"It's all gone to shit, Sookie" Judith wailed, obviously past the point of being able to deliver any other greeting.

"What has?" I asked, probably stupidly. In my defence Eric was over by the dining table bent over plugging power cords in and I was really distracted.

"The Wedding!" she yelled dramatically. "The weather forecast is dire, Portia is barely talking to me because she isn't in the wedding party, Sarah hasn't tried her dress on, Taryn is bleating on about haemorrhoids and to top it all off, Uncle Tom fell over and cracked his hip and can't come. There is NO ONE to give me away!"

I resisted the urge to ask 'And how is this my problem?', and just said "OK. I don't think it's _that_ bad."

"Of course it's bad. I can't walk down the aisle by myself. It's a wedding. In a church. There are ways these things are done. And I'm supposed to have someone to give me away. Fucking Bill." And then she started crying.

I sighed. I didn't quite see how this was my problem, I was neither her sister or in the wedding party. Although I guessed Portia and Sarah were far too self-involved to be sympathetic and Caroline was still on the plane from Sydney. And I'd been married to the person who she obviously felt had let her down by dying before she could get married.

"It's OK Judith. There must be someone else who can do it. What about, like a family friend or something?"

"There's _no one_!" she sobbed. "NO. ONE. AT. ALL. It's all just shit. I might as well call it off."

I wasn't sure what I could do. It wasn't like I could lend her Jason or anything. Even if he had lived in Auckland, I couldn't count on him to turn up. And actually behave. And something had happened at my wedding and now he couldn't ever be in a room with Sarah apparently. So he was out of the question. Then I had a brainwave. "What about Lorena?"

"What about Mum?"

"Can't she do it? Give you away? I've seen it before in single parent families; I don't think it's a big deal these days. After all, she raised you alone since you were 3. I think it would be fitting."

Judith sighed loudly. "Mum won't do it. It's not how things are done!"

"I'm sure she will if you tell her how much it will mean to you. You're the first daughter she's ever had get married, I'm sure she'll want to do it for you."

"No she won't" Judith said huffily. God, I thought, this is like dealing with Amelia. I can see exactly where she gets it from. I looked over to where Eric was sitting in front of the laptop with Felicia on his knee. They seemed to have found the Sesame Street website and were watching something. Well Eric was. Felicia was trying to reach the keys of the laptop. I was tempted to hand the phone to him, because he was so much better at dealing with Amelia, but I ploughed on instead.

"Yeah, she will. Just, um, wait until Caroline's here and take her with you. You ask, and then if she resists, get Caroline to help persuade her. She'll listen to Caroline." Because, I thought, a glamorous job and never being around somehow gets you elevated in the family pecking order. But I didn't want to tell Judith she wasn't at the top. No bride ever, ever wants to hear that.

Judith was silent for a bit. "You really think it's a good idea?" she asked in the end.

"Yeah, I think it's a great idea. I mean, who means more to you than your mum, the woman who brought you up? I don't think people will care that it's not traditional, I think they'll just think its lovely that you get to share the moment with her." God, I hoped I was selling this.

"Well, OK. Maybe I'll do that. When Caro is here." Please don't ask me to fix the weather I thought, but Judith was still wavering. "Do you really think Mum will think it's OK?" she asked. Guessing Lorena's thoughts was not really my strong suit.

"Yeah, I'm sure she'll think it's a great idea, and be really honoured to be asked" I said in the end, going for putting a positive spin on things. And then I had a thought. "And if she, you know, doesn't that seem that keen on it, maybe you should just tell her that you'll have no choice but to ask Eric."

Judith was silent for a moment, and then she laughed. "Yeah, that might work. Oh, I'm sorry for bugging you but this wedding thing is a nightmare. I am never, ever doing this again!"

"Um, I thought that was the plan?" I asked.

"Yeah, I guess so. But you never know. I mean, look at you! You'll be doing it all again soon."

"Yeah, well. I assume so." I didn't mind the marriage bit, but the wedding I thought maybe I could do without. It sounded like hard work. I vaguely remembered it being hard work. Maybe we could elope?

"OK, well I'd better head off then. I have to go and pick up my dress, pick up Caroline, take her to try on her dress, and then of course we've got tonight. So I'll see you then?"

"Yep, see you then. Hope it goes OK with your mum."

"Yeah, fingers crossed. Bye." And then Judith was gone, for now. I really hoped she didn't need me for anything else today.

I went over to where Eric and Felicia were still watching Sesame Street. "What was that about?" Eric asked.

"Judith having a wedding meltdown, you don't want to know."

"I heard my name."

"Yeah, well. You know I like to talk about you behind your back!" Eric shot me a dirty look and I stuck my tongue out at him. "If you have to know, Mr Nosy-Pants, she can't find anyone to give her away and I said to ask Lorena, and if she says no, threaten that you'll have to do it."

Eric looked worried. "But I won't have to, will I Sookie? I mean, that's just to get Lorena to do it?"

"Dunno" I said vaguely. "She is pretty traditional. She might not feel it's appropriate, and then Judith will have to ask you."

"Fuck."

"Fa! Fa!" Felicia chanted. I sighed. "You're going to have to stop saying that before she learns 'k' sounds, you know?"

Eric nodded, but still looked worried, probably imagining having to run the gauntlet of angry Comptons in order to deliver Judith to Calvin. Yeah, it was never going to happen, but it would have been lovely to see Lorena's face if she thought it was.

EPOV

I hoped like fuck I wasn't going to have to get involved in Judith and Calvin's wedding. I mean, they were OK, but I didn't really know them. And I really didn't want to be part of the wedding party. I was pretty sure though Sookie was just teasing me. I hoped she was anyway.

I put Felicia on the ground so she could find something to poke, and of course she immediately headed to the power cord for the laptop so we had a small tussle over that, with Felicia yelling "Ah! Ah! Ta!" at me. She could be quite determined when she wanted to be. I was fairly certain who she'd inherited that trait from, but I wasn't about to tell Sookie.

Eventually Sookie intervened and put Felicia in front of a pile of blocks and we could go back to flicking through the franchise website. We couldn't find anything that really suited both of us, and to be honest, I wasn't sure that was what I wanted to do. But I knew I needed to be doing something as I was actually getting a bit bored. There was only so much cleaning I wanted to do. But I wasn't going to tell Sookie that, she might think I was bored with her and I didn't want to hurt her feelings.

I'd done another one of those boring bank things at the Mt Eden branch and there'd been some people there who said they wanted me to help them with their businesses. I'd been trying to work out if I could turn that into something more, but I hadn't mentioned it to Sookie yet. I wanted to have more of a definite plan before I did that.

So we did what we always did, we sat and looked through the various options, while Felicia pulled herself up on my leg and tried to hand me blocks. Sookie got all excited when the Jumping Beans franchise got mentioned, and told me stories about how she used to take Amelia to Jumping Beans and how much fun it was. It sounded like a nightmare to me, being stuck in a church hall singing and dancing along with a bunch of other people's kids. But Sookie was enthusiastic. So maybe it would be something she could do? Of course every time I mentioned that she'd brush it off by saying that surely we should be looking for something I could do as well. So once again we didn't really get anywhere. I was really going to have to get my shit together.

We broke for lunch, and when Felicia was down for her nap we sat on the deck for a bit, just reading and enjoying the quiet. Sookie was restless though. "I might just go and get that high chair and clean it" she said.

"Yeah, OK" I said, looking at her over my book. "Um, do you want help?"

"Nah, I should be fine. I'll be back soon. You enjoy your nana-nap." She started to walk off.

"What nap?" Fuck, she was always giving me a hard time about taking naps. I never actually meant to fall asleep, but sometimes the sun just sent me right to sleep. She could be just as bad anyway.

SPOV

Yeah, I thought, as I scrubbed the cover from the high chair. I was pretty bored. But I wasn't going to say that to Eric. I just wished we could sort out something for us both to do. I really liked the idea of something like Jumping Beans. I liked kids, and the sessions were only run for part of the day, which would be brilliant when Amelia started school in a year. But I couldn't imagine Eric doing it. So we were stuck.

I finished what I was doing and left the high chair in the sun to dry and went back to the deck. Eric was still reading. Only I noticed that he'd picked up my book and was reading that instead.

I sat down in the chair next to his and he turned to me. "This is porn!" he said.

"What is?" I asked, a bit grumpily.

"This book. I had no idea this was what you've been reading. There's all this talk of 'throbbing shafts' and 'pooling moisture' and I'm sorry, but it's porn. I'm shocked." Eric closed the book and looked at me, smirking slightly.

"No you're not" I said.

"I am!" Eric insisted, trying to keep a straight face. "Deeply, deeply shocked. I just didn't think you were that sort of girl, Sookie. But you know, if you ever want to, I don't know, act any of it out, then I'd be willing to do that for you. 'Cos I'd make that kind of sacrifice for you, you know."

I snorted. "Yeah, it would be a huge sacrifice, wouldn't it Eric?"

He shrugged. "Well you know. I think it's terrible how this stuff objectifies men. But I guess I could cope with being objectified. If you were the one doing it. It's a sacrifice I'm prepared to make."

I couldn't help it; I laughed so much at the idea of Eric sacrificing himself like that for me that I almost fell off my chair. "Oh yeah" I said, when I could speak again. "You'd really have to, um, struggle through that, wouldn't you?"

"Well, you know" Eric said, "I'm not the one reading _porn_, but for you, I'll make allowances."

I giggled again. "It's not porn, Eric. It's a romance."

He gave me a sceptical look, then leaned over and indicated a passage in the book with his finger. "How is that position romantic? Because if you're telling me it is, then everything I thought I knew about women is just fucking wrong!"

I rolled my eyes. "OK, well that's just one bit of it, taken completely out of context. Anyway…" I said, trying to regain some ground. "Look at what you're reading. That's just war porn, with all that blood and death and stuff. And I'm not expecting you to ask me to, I don't know, cover myself in blood and play dead or anything!"

Eric wasn't buying it though. "It's not the same and you know it. I just had no idea my wife was into all that stuff." And with that he stood up and walked off, I guess to deal with the person who we could hear yelling "Da! Dard! Dooga, dooga, dooga. Dee!" I was still trying to think what to say, and whether I should I pick him up on the wife thing, or keep going with trying to redeem my book. In the end, of course, I'd said nothing and Eric was gone. I really wanted to get the last word. Just once.

We made it through the rest of the afternoon, despite the fact that Eric kept whispering "Porn!" in my ear every so often. In order to get him back I gave Felicia a marmite sandwich for afternoon tea before I left to get Amelia from pre-school, so that when I got back Eric was desperately trying to get all the marmite off her and that stuff sticks like anything. He was muttering away to himself about why I had to give her that disgusting stuff in the first place and didn't even notice that when he was bent over to clean one of her legs a small marmite-covered hand grabbed a handful of his hair.

Maybe the boredom was worse than I thought if we were getting that petty.

We managed to get Amelia and Felicia packed up and in the car and we set off for Tara's.

"Where are you going?" Amelia asked for the hundredth time.

"Just out. With Aunty Jude and Uncle Cal. To, um, celebrate the fact they're getting married." I didn't want to go into too much detail with her I thought.

"So can I come?"

"No" Eric said. "It's just for grown-ups."

"I'm not a baby."

"No, but you're still little" I said, hoping that was acceptable and she wasn't going to lecture me about being a big girl or anything.

Amelia, however, decided to try another trick. "Uncle Cal said I could come."

"No, he didn't" I said.

"Yes he did!"

"No, he wouldn't have."

"He did! You just don't know. But he did!" Amelia was adamant, and not backing down. I wasn't sure how I was going to win this one, it was her against me and I wasn't sure that I didn't fold easier than she did.

"Ames, did he really?" Eric asked.

"Um…maybe?"

"Really?" Eric asked again, in his most serious voice.

"Well. The thing is…he said I could go to the wedding and he'd dance with me…"

"But this isn't the wedding. This is before the wedding" Eric said.

"Um, well. But I get to go to the wedding, OK?"

"Yeah, you do" Eric continued. "But not tonight. Tonight is for grown-ups and you're staying with Aunty Tara, OK?"

"OK. I knew that. You just didn't know I knew that, but I did." And then Amelia gave up and was quiet for a bit. I just wished I knew how Eric did that. Of course, Amelia hadn't admitted she was wrong, but she had backed down and stopped going on about it. And that was half the battle.

The drop-off at Tara's went OK for Amelia, who of course just wanted to go and hang with Charlotte, but Felicia wasn't quite as happy about being left this time. It might have been nice if she'd clung to me, like she used to, but instead she clung to Eric. For a while I thought he might be tempted to stay with her and say I was on my own, but we finally managed to pry him off her, or her off him I guess, and head back to our place to get ready.

Eric was quiet on the way home and only said "I don't like it when she's upset" as we were leaving Tara's. I just patted his arm. There wasn't much I could do, he was going to have to get used to that on his own.

We didn't have long so we had quick showers and then tried to get ready without getting too hot again. I ended up drying my hair in my underwear, while Eric loudly lamented from the shower that I was a terrible tease and it just wasn't fair.

It was worse when we were getting dressed. I decided that my good jeans were really the best thing for traipsing around town going into god knows how many pubs and bars, and I was getting myself into them when Eric walked out of the bathroom. It was probably not a good idea to get into them by jumping on the spot, in my bra. I realised that the minute I got tackled onto the bed.

"Ow! Eric! This is not helping me get ready."

"It's helping me get ready" Eric said, kissing my neck.

"Ready to go out, Eric. Not ready for sex!" I tried tapping him on the leg with my foot, but he didn't budge.

"I can be quick" Eric said, undeterred.

"Yeah, well. Not quick enough. We don't have much time and I don't want to have to take another shower."

Eric sighed and stood up, holding out his hand to help me up. "You know, when you were bouncing like that all I could think was 'B is for boo…'". I cut him off "Don't Eric! Don't ruin my childhood!"

He laughed. "You're the one that reads porn!"

"Romance."

"Yeah, you call it that, Sookie. If it makes you feel better."

I couldn't think of a good comeback to that, so I went off to find my top instead.

Eventually we got ready, with a lot of sighing from Eric, who really didn't seem to want to go, and got in his car. The plan was he was dropping me at Judith's, where we were starting the evening with cocktails, before going into the city for dinner and bar-hopping, and then he was going to drive to the best man's house to meet Calvin and the other blokes for god-knows-what. Going to a strip club probably.

When Eric pulled up outside Judith's I leaned over and kissed him. "Have fun!" I said.

"Yeah, I'll try. I don't have to stay for long, do I?"

"Just long enough to be polite."

"How the fuck do I know how long that is, Sookie?"

"Oh, well you'll work it out. You'll be fine. Just don't tip anyone."

Eric sighed again. "No, no, I won't. I remember that lesson. You sure we can't go home and you could strip for me instead?" He looked hopeful.

I laughed. "Yeah, but how does that celebrate Judith and Calvin's wedding?"

"Um…" Eric looked thoughtful. "No I can't come up with anything, fuck. I guess we have to do this then, huh?"

"Yeah, we do, but it's only for a couple of hours. And then we can go home. And of course we have the whole house to ourselves for the night…" I leaned over to Eric and kissed him lightly, making sure I managed to brush my breasts against his arm in the process. "And that'll be nice, won't it?" I said brightly.

"Um, yeah. It will. Fuck, now I really don't want to go."

"Yes you do. You'll have a good time. I'll see you at home. Bye!" With that I got out of the car and headed up the path to Judith's front door.

**So next up, the actual hen and stag parties (which is what I was aiming for here, but I didn't quite make it!).**

**Thanks for reading!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N OK, for anyone getting this a second time, sorry. But I had written Judith where I meant to write Caroline at one stage and when I re-read it today it annoyed me. A lot. So I'm fixing it. Before moving on to write the next chapter! **

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

SPOV

I walked up the path to Judith's front door and waved at Eric who was driving off. There was a lot of noise coming from inside the house, so it sounded as though the party was in full swing.

I pushed open the front door and headed into the living room. "Sookie!" Judith yelled, coming over to hug me. "You're here!" She pushed the veil she was wearing back over her shoulders.

"Yep, I made it" I agreed, setting my handbag down. Judith seemed reluctant to leave me alone though. "It worked!" she half-shouted at me. "Mum's going to give me away. She'll probably pull a face all the way down the aisle, but I don't give a fuck about that. Not tonight anyway. Hey! Caro! I need another cosmo. Sookie needs one too." With that she headed off to the kitchen. Wow, I thought, I wonder how early she started drinking?

I headed over to where Caroline was standing in the kitchen and took the proffered cosmo, and looked around the rest of the room. There were a lot of women I didn't know, although I thought I could see the two bitches who'd been at the birthday party. Bum. Hope I didn't end up sitting near them at dinner. Portia was sitting in the corner looking miserable, and, as expected Sarah wasn't here yet.

"So what's the plan?" I asked Caroline, who looked as though she'd made more cosmos than she'd drunk, which was something.

"Well, we're going to hang out here for a bit, then get a taxi into town for dinner, and then we'll just see. Jude's got some ideas about trying to find the boys, but I'm trying to talk her out of that. I don't think she really needs to see what Calvin's up to tonight."

"Oh, yeah. Wouldn't be a good idea." Actually it sounded OK to me, but I guess I wasn't the one getting married and trying to keep an air of mystery. Falling over while wearing a veil and an L plate did not spell mystery.

Then there was a knock at the door, and Judith's matron of honour Taryn, who was still sober due to being pregnant, went to answer it. There was the sound of a lot of squealing and I peeked out the kitchen door. "Looks like there's a stripper here" I said to Caroline.

"Oooh. I booked him, so I better go and see how this goes" Caroline said enthusiastically. "Come on!"

"Yeah…" I said, trying to avoid it. I remembered the stripper Tara had booked for my hen's party. I'd spent a few years trying to block out the memory of that event, and being forced to sit there and 'enjoy' myself while all the time hoping that Bill didn't find out anything about this from his sisters. "Um, I might just put some of these snacks out" I said, spying some chips and dip sitting on the kitchen bench.

"Oh, OK" Caroline said, heading out of the room. I could hear music starting and a lot of yelling. Yeah, maybe I'd just hide out in here for a while until he left.

EPOV

I really didn't want to go to this bachelor party, but I hadn't thought of a fucking good way of getting out of it. Sookie's theory was that I just had to stay long enough to be polite, but I had no fucking clue how long that was going to be. According to Sookie it wasn't an exact science and I'd figure it out. Fuck. That sounded like too much trouble. Why couldn't she have said I could leave when I was bored? I figured I would probably know when that was.

So I turned up at a house in somewhere called Grey Lynn. The houses here were really fucking close together, which meant all the parking was on the street and it took me a while to find a spot to park in. I checked to make sure I could leave the car overnight and then headed back to where I was meant to be.

I knocked on the door, which was promptly opened by a small dark-haired girl who didn't wait for me to say anything before yelling back over her shoulder "Felt! There's another one!" and wandering off, leaving me to let myself in.

I found Calvin in a living room, surrounded by a bunch of other guys who I didn't know at all, apart from that annoying fucker Charles who'd been at the barbecue. "Hi" I said as I walked in. "Oh, hey Eric!" Calvin said enthusiastically. He stood up, and slightly stumbled on his way over to shake my hand. He was wearing a t-shirt which said 'Groom' but otherwise seemed intact. Sookie had asked that I keep an eye out for him, to make sure nothing too horrific, like eyebrow-shaving occurred. It appeared she'd heard some stories from her brother. Or that her brother had been the perpetrator of some pretty dreadful stunts. At any rate, I was on Calvin-watching duty, although I wasn't sure what the fuck I was really supposed to do if anything did happen.

Calvin handed me a beer and went back to sit down again. I just hovered where I was. I wondered how long before the time ran out on being polite.

SPOV

I managed to avoid seeing most of the stripper's performance. By the time I snuck into the corner of the room with some chips and dip he was giving Judith a lapdance and she didn't seem too upset. Portia seemed to be really enjoying it. I just tried to hug the wall and hope I didn't get noticed.

The guy finally left just as Sarah arrived, full of stories about how she'd been held up on the way there. She seemed annoyed to have missed the performance but really, if she was never going to get her arse into gear and get somewhere on time she only had herself to blame.

It was nearly an hour though before we could everyone into several taxi vans and into town for dinner at a Thai restaurant. I obviously hadn't been drinking enough because I was just about ready to go home already. Judith was having a great time though and kept hugging me, which was disconcerting. It was nice she was enjoying herself, but even so. Caroline looked happy and even Sarah seemed to be getting into the party mood. It was only Portia out of the sisters who looked as sour as anything. God, I thought, I really hadn't noticed before but when she curls her lip like that she looks exactly like Lorena.

Unfortunately at dinner I got stuck sitting next to Portia, who tried her best to ignore me. I sat there until the food arrived and then I cracked. I had to talk to someone. "How's Glen?" I asked Portia.

"He's great. He's just come back from church camp where he won first place in a Bible knowledge quiz" Portia replied.

"Oh, well. That's great" I said. I waited for her to show any interest in my life, but it wasn't forthcoming. I went back to eating.

"I've been seeing Charles" Portia said after a while. I wasn't sure how to respond to that, so went with "Oh."

"Yes, he's really fitting in well. Everyone at church loves him."

"Well…that's lovely" I said. I hoped it was. I hoped Eric was wrong and that he hadn't just latched onto her in the hope of getting residency. Not even Portia deserved that.

"And you're still with…" Portia frowned, as though she couldn't remember his name. I was pretty sure she could so I waited. In the end she finished with "That American bloke?"

"Eric. Yes. We're getting married. I would have thought you'd heard?" Portia looked at me, then pointedly at my hand (which was ringless as my engagement ring was still being made) then back up at my face. "Interesting" she said.

"What's interesting?" I asked, getting a bit annoyed.

"That you feel…OK about it all." She took a bite of her chicken. I put my fork down.

"Why wouldn't I think it's OK Portia?"

"Well, you know." She looked at me as if I should. When I didn't say anything she sighed. "It's not even been a year yet."

I had to think for a minute what she meant. And when I did realise I was hit with a flood of various emotions; indignation, anger, annoyance. And if I'm totally honest just a tiny bit of shame that I had forgotten about my dead ex-husband.

"Well, it's been more than a year since Bill left me" I said, trying to remain calm but at the same time trying to remind Portia that we didn't exactly break up because he died in car-crash.

Portia sniffed. "It's just so sad. I mean, he was so young to die. And we're all mourning him of course. I don't think I'll ever be the same."

That was it. I'd had enough. "Fuck off Portia!" I hissed. "You were the first one to start condemning him for the drug use. You didn't fucking want to help him; you wanted to pray for him. What good did that do? And he didn't want help anyway. It doesn't matter that he died; he'd still be lost to us. Grow up and get over it. It's not about you. Worry about the stuff that is, like what are you going to tell Glen when he wants to know about his dad? Thought about that one? Telling him he's a gift from Jesus is not going to cut it for much longer!"

Having said my piece I sat back in my chair and gulped down my wine. Portia looked at me, blinked several times and started to cry. "You're so mean!" she yelled. "You had a husband. You don't know what it's like to raise a child alone! You're just selfish!" She was sobbing quite loudly now and everyone else at the table had stopped eating and was staring at us.

Sarah got up from her chair and put her arm around Portia. "Come on" she said. "Let's go to the Ladies and you can calm down." Portia stood up and Sarah led her out, but not before Sarah and Caroline exchanged a look. Oh God, I thought, I bet they're all going to stick together.

Caroline leaned across the table to me. "Don't worry" she said. "It's a party. Someone always makes Portia cry at a party. It's just it was you this time." And then she went back to eating.

I realised though she was right. All the time I'd been with Bill I'd tried so hard to stay out of all their dramas, as not only did Bill probably not want to see me slugging it out with his sisters, I didn't want to be dragged into their petty arguments, which never ended well and ruined most occasions. But somehow tonight they'd sucked me in. Shit, I was one of them after all. I threw back some more wine, my glass having been refilled by Caroline.

EPOV

The evening was actually going OK. Most of Calvin's friends, a lot of whom also seemed to be South African, were actually less obnoxious than Victor and the guys I'd worked with. The best man, Felton, didn't seem to have planned anything too sordid, and I wasn't having a bad time.

I did wonder what Sookie was doing, of course. From what I'd seen of bachelorette parties they could get pretty wild. I was pretty sure she wouldn't let herself get into the kind of state where she could be picked up by random men. That was usually the bridesmaids anyway, the ones who weren't getting married and felt a bit desperate as a result. I'd picked up a few of them myself in the past.

But I managed to push the thoughts of Sookie aside as I went with Calvin's friends for dinner and then on to several bars in the city. Well for a while I did anyway. There was only so long I could sit there watching everyone around me getting drunk. The guys were determined to pour as much alcohol into Calvin as they possibly could. It was probably a good thing that he wasn't a small guy.

Calvin came over to sit next to me. "Having a good time?" he asked, slurring his words slightly.

"Yeah, yeah. It's great" I said.

"This'll be you next, man. When you and Sookie get hitched."

"Uh, yeah. Guess so." I wasn't so sure I really needed the full bachelor party. Maybe we could just elope or something.

"Good man" Calvin said, patting me on the shoulder and going off to see what drink Felton was going to ply him with next. I tried to ignore the conversation going on next to me which was Charles telling some other guy about how great it was with Portia and how he was sure he was going to be able to stay in New Zealand now. I stared at my phone. I wondered if I was allowed to call Sookie. Or maybe text her. Just to see if she was OK.

SPOV

After the spat with Portia things calmed down a bit. Well no one else was yelling, anyway. We finished dinner and found a bar to have some more drinks. Maybe it was the alcohol, but my mood had improved a bit and I was starting to enjoy myself. It was fun being out and about. I hadn't done this...well, since the night I went for drinks when I finished working. And that had turned out great! In the end.

I wondered what Eric was doing.

I was sitting next to Judith at a table at some bar I didn't know and Judith was pleading with Caroline. "Please!" she said. "Just text and find out where they are. We'll just say hello and then bugger off. I just want to see him. I loooove him. Please, Caro. I'm the bride you have to do what I say! Please!" Drink was making Judith alternate between pleading with Caroline and ordering her around.

"I think it's a great idea!" I added. I'd just say hello to Eric too. It would be fun.

Caroline, who of course had no attachment to anyone in the stag party, rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure you really want him to see you drunk" she said to Judith, trying to pull the big-sister card.

"Of course he's seen me drunk!" Judith cried. "How do you think we got Jessie?" She thought that was hilarious, and threw her head back to laugh.

"Go on" I said to Caroline. "Otherwise she'll be obnoxious for the rest of the evening. You know what brides are like!" I hoped she did. I of course hadn't been like that at all. Not one iota. Not even when I yelled at Tara for wearing her watch in the wedding photos.

Caroline sighed. "If it will shut you up then fine, I'll text them and see where they are. But don't get your hopes up. They may not even be in town."

"No, they are. Calvin said that's what they were doing" Judith replied.

Caroline eyed her sceptically. "Just what were you two planning?"

"NOTHING!" Judith said, unconvincingly.

Caroline said nothing, but took out her phone and sent a text. Just then Sarah came wobbling over to me. "Is Jason coming to the wedding?" she asked.

"No! Why would Judith invite him?" I asked.

"Good. I don't want to see him" she said, wobbling off again.

"What was that about?" Caroline asked me.

I sighed. "She slept with Jason. At my wedding. And now she hates him. He probably didn't call. He never calls."

Caroline frowned. "_She_ slept with Jason?"

I looked at her, astonished. "Not you too?" I asked. She shrugged. "It was a long time ago Sookie."

"What's so special about Jason anyway?" I asked. "I mean, I don't get it. He's _Jason_."

Caroline shrugged again. "Well I didn't exactly find Bill that attractive, either, so I get why you wouldn't like Jason. But I don't know. He's got charisma. Like your Eric."

"Phfft. He's nothing like Eric!" I said huffily, but Caroline didn't reply as her phone beeped to say there'd been a reply. "Come on, ladies" she said. "We're off on a mission."

"Yay!" said Judith, standing up. As we were leaving the bar she lent over to me. "I always had a crush on Jason" she said. "I think he's lovely!"

I didn't say anything. Fuck, I thought, they're all as slutty as each other and they all want to get their hooks into my poor brother. I hoped like hell Amelia and Felicia didn't inherit _that_ trait.

Luckily we didn't have to walk too far to our destination because my high heels were slippy and they really needed to do something about the pavements around here. They were so uneven. And then I had to negotiate cobblestones, which was a lot worse.

At that point I realised where we were headed. The Bluestone Room, where we'd had the work drinks. Well that would be fun.

We went inside and it was packed with people. I couldn't spot anyone we knew. The crowd parted though when Judith started to move people out of the way. She was little but quite strong. Also, of course the wedding veil made her kind of stand out.

And then I spotted them. Well, Eric anyway. I didn't really have a clue about who he was with. He had his head down, staring at his phone so he didn't see me. I got over to him as fast I could on these stupid shoes and plonked myself in his lap. "Found you!" I called out.

EPOV

I'd been sitting there trying to work out if I could reasonably call Sookie. And maybe tell her I'd see her at home. Soon. But instead I felt someone sit in my lap. I was about to push whoever it was off, when I bizarrely heard Sookie's voice say "Found you!" After a second I put the two together.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her, putting my arms around her waist.

"Well, you know. Stupid old Judith decided she was missing Calvin and so we had to find you guys." She gestured over to where Judith had wrapped herself around Calvin and was trying to jump up and down.

Just then the sister with the highlights lent over to Sookie "You want a drink, Sook? I don't think we'll be prying her off him anytime soon."

"Nah, Caroline, I'm good for now" Sookie said, leaning into me.

"What about you, Eric?" Caroline asked.

"Nope. I'm good too" I said, giving Sookie a squeeze.

"You're all as bad as each other!" Caroline huffed before she walked off.

"Yeah, she should talk" Sookie muttered. I raised my eyebrows, but she just shook her head. "You don't want to know" she said. I shrugged. I didn't really care, I was just happy to see her.

I glanced down at Sookie's cleavage. "So" I said, "do you think that we've hit that magical time when we've done this long enough to be polite?"

Sookie's gaze travelled over to where Judith was mauling Calvin. "Yep, I think we've reached that point. In fact, I think that if we don't say anything but just leave now no one will even notice we've gone."

Sookie stood up and started walking out towards the door, and I followed. Once out though she slowed right down. "I hate these stupid cobblestones" she said, trying to pick her way across them. I scooped her up bridal-style and started carrying her. For once she didn't lecture me about dropping her but just laughed. Fuck, I thought, I wonder how much she's had to drink.

SPOV

Thank God for Eric being there to carry me across the cobblestones because it was getting a bit difficult to walk across them. I don't know why the Auckland City Council thought they were a good idea in the first place. A hazard is what they are.

Luckily I knew where the closest taxi-stand was from here. Of course how I knew that is because I once ran away from Eric's hotel room. That thought gave me the giggles as the taxi pulled out.

"What?" Eric asked.

"Nothing" I replied. I didn't want to dredge up bad memories for him. But it was funny how far we'd come. Well I thought it was.

The taxi headed up Queen Street. Eric reached for my hand, and I leaned into him. He was always so nice to lean on. He smelt lovely, really lovely. I put my head on his shoulder and traced the neckline of his shirt with my other hand. His skin was so warm. I undid another button and pushed my hand further in so I could feel more of his chest. I really loved his chest.

Eric was just watching me and I got a bit bolder. It might be fun to play with him for a bit I thought. After all, he'd spent all afternoon accusing me of reading porn.

So I moved my hand down and started stroking Eric's leg. Well, his thigh. His inner thigh. Probably a bit close to his crotch for comfort.

He shifted slightly in his seat and shot me a warning look, but I was on a roll. This was fun. I was enjoying making Eric squirm and was fighting back the urge to let out an evil cackle.

By now I was pretty much brushing the fly on Eric's jeans pretty blatantly, while at the same time pressing my chest into his side as hard as I could. Eric swallowed, visibly, and shuffled around again. I could tell he was torn between throwing me back on the seat and throwing me off completely. This was fun. I only felt a little bit mean. I was pretty sure I wasn't doing anything Eric wasn't prepared to do to me.

He narrowed his eyes at me, and I just looked back at him, and kept doing what I was doing. He leaned down and whispered in my ear. "You are playing with fire." I didn't say anything to that, but kissed him instead.

And then the taxi stopped. We'd reached home. I opened the car door and slid out. Eric paid, and from the enthusiastic "Thanks, mate. Have a good night" the taxi driver gave him I guessed he'd probably tipped the guy. Oh well, I thought. Maybe he deserved it.

By the time Eric caught up to me I was standing by the front door looking for my keys in my handbag. It was a tiny handbag, devoid of most of the detritus I usually carried around, so why I couldn't find them I didn't know. I gave the bag a shake to try to locate them via sound and dug around again, eventually grabbing hold of them.

Eric had just been standing there watching me. Actually, he'd been standing very close to me watching me. Pretty much pressed up against me. When I held up the keys in triumph he took them out of my hand and I thought he was going to open the door, but he didn't. Instead he sort of shepherded me into the corner of the front porch with his body.

"Um, are you going to open to the door?" I asked, as Eric started to run his hands up and down my sides.

"No" he said, before his mouth found my neck.

"Really?" I squeaked out.

"Uh-huh". Eric didn't seem to want to say anything else, and I was sandwiched between him and the wall with nowhere to go. He reached under my arm and undid the side zip of the top I was wearing, and then reached inside that to unhook my bra, before grabbing a good hold of my breast and stroking my nipple. I shivered involuntarily.

"Eric" I hissed. "We're still outside the door." The sensor-light had now gone off, but even so. This was the front of the house.

"You seemed keen on a public display before" Eric said. "And you're the one into sex on the deck remember."

"I think you'll find that's you" I countered.

"Nope. Definitely you, Sookie. It makes you very, very wet." He pulled back from my neck. "I wonder how wet you are now?" he said, reaching for the button on my jeans.

"Oh no you don't!" I hissed. "This is not the deck. It's the front porch!"

Eric chuckled. "Fine then, let's go inside." He reached over and unlocked the door and held it open for me. I went in, trying to give him my filthiest glare as I walked past. I only just got inside before he had me pushed up against the wall of the hallway.

"Eric!" I said.

"What? You wanted to be inside. This is inside" he said.

"Yeah, it's not quite what I meant" I said. Still, what he was doing felt nice. And I wasn't really fighting when he took off my top and my bra and latched on to a nipple. In fact I think I just tried to get his shirt off too, although I gave up when it got too difficult. I got the buttons undone that would have to do.

Eric meanwhile had undone my jeans and was trying to push them down. It wasn't an easy task as they were a bit tight over my thighs. "You should have worn a skirt" he grumbled. "I'm sure they always wear skirts in that porn you read."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, because I was planning this when I got dressed!"

Eric had finally got them down and I kicked them off, along with my knickers. "Well you're the one with the dirty mind, and all those dirty tricks in the car, Sookie. You must have known what you were doing."

I reached for the fly on Eric's jeans. "Yeah, yeah. Hindsight is wonderful. Stop moving." I said. I managed to get Eric's jeans open and pushed down over his hips. He wasn't built like me so his jeans went down a lot easier. "No underwear?" I asked.

"Well I was prepared" he said. "Do you even pay attention to that porn you read?"

"I don't take notes like you obviously do" I said as Eric resumed his attentions to me. He wrapped his hot mouth around my nipple and I melted back against the wall. His hand moved down between my legs to stroke me and I thought I'd return the favour so I grabbed his penis and moved my hand up and down for a few strokes.

Then I felt Eric grab my backside and lift me higher up the wall. He pressed his body against mine and kissed me deeply while rubbing his erection against my folds. I wrapped my arms around his neck, my legs around his waist and just held in my warning about dropping me. If I said anything he'd only sigh. And he hadn't dropped me yet.

I reached down and positioned him and he pushed in, beginning to move almost immediately. "Oh fuck" he said. "I've never had you standing up."

I giggled. "Had me! Like's it all about you. No one really talks like that do they?" But I didn't get a reply from Eric other than a string of words I didn't really catch, apart from the odd 'fuck' here and there and my name a few times.

I wasn't talking anymore either. Eric was so warm and he was pressing right into me and I was moving as much as I could in this position, trying to hold on with my thighs so I didn't slip down.

I was so close, so close. And then before I could think it, I came. Eric's thrusts became harder and more frantic and he came too right after. We looked at each other, still panting and sweaty. He carefully put me down and pulled out, and stepped out of his jeans which were still just around his ankles. "I think there's something in you reading all this porn" he said.

"Yeah, 'cos that was all me" I said.

"Well you know. You started it in the taxi. Come on, let's have a shower and get you some water."

"I'm OK. I only had a bit to drink."

"Yeah, I think it was more than that. But that's OK. It makes you frisky. I like it when you're frisky."

"As long as I'm frisky with you?" I asked, walking into the bathroom.

"Well who else would put up with being objectified like that, Sookie? Honestly, you don't know what I do for you."

Giggling, I turned the shower on. "Well come on then" I said. "You get in first so I can stand and stare at you a bit."

Eric sighed theatrically, but complied. "Do I have to drop anything so you can stare at my butt?" he asked.

"No, I'm not that mean" I said joining him. "In fact I might even let you stare at me for a while."

"Well that only seems fair" Eric said, reaching for the shower gel.

"Doesn't it?" I asked, lifting my arms above my head so he could get to my boobs. Well, I thought, if you can't beat them, join them.

**Thanks for reading!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N OK, nothing new to add other than thanks for the reviews and alerts and general love!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine, but I have to admit to feeling a bit attached after all this time!**

EPOV

Sookie had obviously had a bit to drink at the bachelorette party. She kept trying to deny it to me, but it was completely fucking obvious from the way she acted. And now it was completely obvious from the way she was still asleep.

This felt so wrong. Sookie was always awake first, well, most of the time anyway. The only times I was the first one up was when Amelia managed to wake me first. But now, lying here, I realised why Sookie always said it was boring waiting for me to wake up.

I twisted around to look at the clock. 7.30. So we only had a couple of hours before Tara arrived here with the kids. I sighed. Surely she'd wake up soon? If she didn't we'd run out of time to fuck. And I really, really wanted to fuck her about now. Probably because she was currently naked and curled up against me. She's so soft and warm and she smells really good. Like cookies again.

"Sookie" I whispered, reaching around and gently stroking her nipple. "Sookie, wake up!"

She made a noise that sounded like "nrgh" and swatted my hand away, which wasn't helpful at all. "Sookie, it's time to wake up" I said at a normal volume.

"No, it's not. You're completely mistaken. The kids aren't here, so I don't have to get up." Sookie said without opening her eyes. And then she tried to snuggle further down under the covers, except that all she did was wiggle her butt against my cock and make it so much less likely that I was going back to sleep anytime soon.

"Now you're just teasing me again" I grumbled.

"I'm not. Because I'm sleeping."

"You're no fun this morning."

"I don't have to be fun when I'm asleep. That's not in the rules."

"Well, wake up then." I stroked her side and tried nuzzling her neck. That just made her squirm again. The squirming was kind of nice, as long as it was leading to something more. Maybe some more squirming. While I was inside her. I was still enjoying the whole no-condom experience. It certainly made morning sex a lot easier if you weren't hunting around for a condom. But only if everyone was awake enough to participate.

"Sooookie" I crooned.

She sighed. "Why do I have to be awake?"

"Because otherwise we can't fuck. There's no fucking if you're asleep."

"Who said there was going to be sex anyway?" She grabbed my hand and tried to hold it still against her chest, but I managed to get it out of her grasp and kneaded her boob instead.

"There was a vote" I said. "While you were asleep. And the vote was yes for fucking this morning."

Sookie rolled over to face me and frowned. "Who voted?"

"Me. And my cock. And we voted yes." I hooked my leg over hers and pressed her back against the bed so she could feel all the yes votes.

"So how come you get two votes anyway?" Sookie asked.

"Well it's not really two votes. And it's not like you were going to vote no anyway. Were you?"

"Ummm…." Sookie said, pretending to think. "Well, I might have to think about it. I've only just woken up."

"OK. Well while you do that, I'm just going to do this…" I kissed her neck. "And this", I sucked her nipple into my mouth and ran my tongue around it. "And this", I kissed down her stomach, while she parted her legs to make space for me.

"OK then. If you're going to be all like that, then I guess I am voting yes."

I stopped what I was doing. "Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yep."

"Absolutely sure? Because, you know, I don't want to force you into anything."

"OK, now you're just being obnoxious."

"I have no idea what you mean, Sookie. I'm just checking that you're really sure that you want to fuck, because you know, a few minutes ago you were complaining about the voting system that was in place, so if you want to lodge a formal protest and ask for a re-count, now's your time to do so."

Sookie lifted herself up onto her elbows to look at me. "Shit" she said. "You're quite lucid. How long have you been awake?"

"Quite a while." I resumed kissing her stomach.

"OK. Well, maybe you could shut up now, so we can fuck."

"I definitely think I can do that" I said, pushing her legs apart as I settled between them. Sookie moaned when I lightly brushed her folds with my mouth, and she pushed her hips up towards me. I just lay there breathing on her, while running my hands up and down the outside of her thighs.

Sookie made a disgruntled noise and I gave in and sucked her clit, which caused her to moan and squirm some more. The squirming was definitely good. I ran my tongue around her clit and then through her folds, and there was more squirming. So much so that I had to hold onto her butt to stop her moving too much.

I could hear her breathing faster and I looked up to get a good look at her boobs rising and falling. I wasn't expecting to see Sookie playing with her own nipples though. Fuck me. That was hot.

"Oh Sookie" I said.

"Yeah, fuck. My boobs felt lonely."

"Yeah. I don't have enough hands. I wish I had more." I moved back up the bed so I was hovering over her. She looked up at me. "I need you inside me" she said.

"OK" I agreed. And after positioning myself quickly, I pushed in. "Ohhh" Sookie sighed. "Yeah, the vote went the right way I think." I hadn't moved yet, but Sookie was wriggling against me, trying to get some friction. It was really fucking enjoyable.

"I was happy with the outcome" I said, as I started to move.

"What about your cock?" Sookie asked.

"Yeah. He's happy too. Especially when you squirm. Do that some more."

Sookie giggled and began to move against me. It wasn't long before I could feel her clamping down on me as she clawed at my back and pressed her face into my neck. "Oh fuck" I said, as I finished myself with a few more hard thrusts.

I lay on top of her, with neither of us moving much anymore. "I'm not too heavy, am I?" I murmured.

"No. I like it. I feel safe."

"That's good" I said. And we lay like that for a bit longer until we had to leave the bed and take a shower.

When Tara arrived about 9.30am Sookie was clutching her coffee cup to her chest and looking a little pale. She kept insisting she hadn't had that much to drink, but so far she hadn't had anything to eat. Just some painkillers. And coffee. I watched her talk to Tara and felt sorry for her. There wasn't much I could do for her at this stage.

SPOV

Drinking is a really stupid idea. I don't know why I do it. I wasn't even going to drink at the hen's party, but I think it was all Portia's fault for making me upset. And Caroline who kept refilling my wine glass. I was trying really hard but I wasn't feeling that great.

It was worse when the kids came back. Amelia is not a good combination with a headache. She of course wanted to tell me everything that had happened overnight and she got really grumpy when I shushed her so I could talk to Tara.

"How were they?" I asked.

"Oh, no problem. Amelia just mucks in. She doesn't um, notice if you don't really listen to her, does she?"

"No, not all the time" I agreed.

"And um, Felicia was a bit upset. Until we found her cuddly."

"Oh. What cuddly?"

"The sock. In the bag. Amelia got it out for her."

"What sock?" I was totally lost. "Amelia? What sock did Felicia have?"

Amelia looked at me. "You mean Sockie?"

"Um. OK. Yeah, Sockie then. She doesn't have a cuddly normally."

Amelia rolled her eyes. "Well it's Sockie" and then she walked off.

I was still confused. "But she doesn't have a cuddly" I repeated to Tara, as though she would know what was going on.

"I guess she does now. It must be Eric's sock by the size of it. So anyway, that cheered her up."

"Oh, OK." I was trying to figure out if my confusion was due more to the fact this was all news to me or whether my brain was still foggy from the alcohol. In the end I decided to worry about it when I was more clear-headed.

"OK, well, thanks Tara" I said, now that Eric had finished removing our carseats from Tara's car. "You've been a big help."

"No problem. Did you have a good time anyway?"

"Oh yeah, not too bad. It was a hen's party. You know. Pretty standard really."

"Stripper?"

"Yeah."

"Did you hide from him?"

"What do you mean?"

Tara sighed. "I had to practically tie you to the chair at your hen's party. You looked petrified of the poor guy."

"Well, it's a bit odd, having someone shaking all their…bits in your face."

Tara shrugged. "You wouldn't moan if it was Eric, would you?"

I didn't know what to say to that. "It would still be odd. And anyway, Eric wouldn't do that." Well I wasn't sure. Eric got some funny ideas in his head sometimes. I think I blushed a bit going from Tara's reaction.

"OK, well I better get to work. See you later! Have fun at the wedding!"

"Yeah, thank you. I owe you!"

Tara drove off and I went over to where Eric was standing with the kids. "I guess we better go and get your car" I said.

"Yeah, and then what?" Eric asked, while watching Amelia dance around.

"Um. I think, brunch. I need hashbrowns." Eric raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, alright. To soak up the alcohol. I just feel sorry for Judith, I'm sure she's feeling waaay worse than me and she's getting married tomorrow."

So we piled into my car and set off for Grey Lynn. I had been right when I'd bought Eric the GPS for Christmas, he can't really read a street map. And he was a bit vague about where he'd gone the night before. I guess being new to Auckland didn't help, but I could have done with a bit more direction.

We got there in the end, and I pulled up alongside Eric's car. I pleaded with him to take at least one child, but he just chuckled. All the way there Felicia had squealed and yelled and Amelia had been singing a medley of every song she knew, so we'd had "Mamma Mia! Here I go again. Do Do Come on Barbie, let's go party! Oh oh. Won't you be my girl?" I don't know how she managed to combine Abba, Aqua and The Beatles but she thought it was a good sound. But it was loud. And I was over loud today.

It was a long drive back home.

Once home we put Felicia in the pushchair and headed up Mt Eden Road, in the opposite direction to the Village. Stupidly I'd forgotten how steep this bit of the road was and in the heat of the morning I was struggling a bit. Still, I thought, this might sweat the hangover out of me.

But if Eric asked I wasn't hung-over. At all.

We got to Orvieto and found a seat inside. I liked the food here. Mostly I liked their homemade hashbrowns which were big, thick wedges of potato. Just what I needed about now.

Eric grabbed a highchair and transferred Felicia into it; I went to get Amelia some books to look at from the pile they provided on a shelf. And then we perused the menu. Eric of course ordered the big breakfast on the menu, I went with eggs and hashbrowns, and Amelia wanted baked beans and toast and chips. Felicia would have to be happy with toast and jam.

I felt better after brunch. Eric agreed with me that the hashbrowns were good. Amelia had happily chattered through her meal and was only wearing a few baked beans on the front of her t-shirt. Felicia had discovered an innate love for the bacon off Eric's plate.

We headed home to have a quiet afternoon.

EPOV

Sookie looked a lot better once she got some food. She was right; the hashbrowns at that place were fucking delicious. I was almost sad that I lost some to Felicia, who quickly decided that the toast Sookie ordered for her wasn't anywhere near as good as anything I was eating.

When we were putting Felicia down for a nap Sookie suddenly turned to me "Did you know about the sock?" she asked.

"Um. Sockie?"

"Yeah. Apparently its Felicia's cuddly. Tara said it calmed her down last night."

"Oh, well she'd been carrying it around after she got it out of the laundry basket the other day. So I put it in the bag when she went to Tara's."

"Oh. I thought it had gone back in your drawer."

"No, it seemed a shame to take it off her. And she'd named it. Well Amelia did. I wonder if it's in tribute to you?"

"God, I hope not."

SPOV

I went outside to see what Amelia was doing and Eric got his laptop out after muttering about 'needing to do some research'. He had something on the go I figured. We'd been looking at that franchise website and not getting anywhere fast with it at all, and I got the impression that part of the reason was that Eric had some other plan. But he wasn't sharing it at the moment. And I wasn't all that worried. Unless he was intending to go out and start stripping, it was unlikely to be anything too bad.

The afternoon passed and I made chicken and salad for dinner. I was starting to feel more like myself, and definitely like I wasn't going to drink too much at the wedding the next day. We had watermelon for dessert, which meant that everyone got banished to the deck to eat it. As it was, everyone was pretty sticky by bath time. And that included Eric, who was sporting some nice sticky handprints on his shorts where Felicia had decided to use him for balance.

When everyone was asleep I decided that maybe I should try on my dress for the wedding. Just in case. I told Eric to check his suit and see that it was pressed and then I got the dress out of the wardrobe.

I'd been out with Tara one Saturday to buy it. It was lovely, a sort of brocade in a sea-foam colour with a gold thread pattern running through it. It was sleeveless, and fitted under the bust where a gold ribbon ran right around. I had matching gold heels and a wrap in almost the same colour. I'd fallen in love with it at first sight and had decided it had a certain 'Mad Men' '60's vibe to it. It was a classic.

Except that now that I tried it on again, I hated it. There was too much cleavage. And, worst of all, I was convinced there was too much bum. The dress clinged to me. And I looked fat. And there I'd be, surrounded by the tiny little Compton girls in all their finery. Because they were tiny. They were shorter than me and they were thin. When I felt OK about myself I used to joke to Bill that standing next to his sisters made me appreciate how Elle Macpherson must feel when standing next to ordinary women. They made me feel like an Amazon.

But when I felt fat it was torture. I just felt like a big lump. And I was convinced this dress, the dress that had looked so good in the shop, the dress that Tara and I had gushed over because it was so different, so simple, so classic, just highlighted my inherent lumpiness.

I carefully took the dress off, laid it on the bed, sat down and burst into tears. Which is how Eric found me a couple of moments later.

"What's wrong?" he asked, crouching down in front of me.

"You wouldn't understand" I sobbed, really not wanting to be sobbing in front of Eric at all. I realised I should have hid in the bathroom.

"Um, but can you tell me anyway. Because it looks really bad from where I'm sitting."

"It's not bad, it's stupid. I'm stupid. And fat. But mostly stupid. Because only stupid women cry because they're fat."

"OK. I don't think you're fat or stupid though."

I didn't say anything to that. I didn't want to call him stupid for not realising I was. But he patently was a bit stupid. So I just cried some more.

Eric gathered me in a hug. "It'll be OK" he said, with just a hint of a question in his voice.

"No it won't. It will be awful. I have to go to the wedding tomorrow and I have nothing to wear."

"But you've got that dress. The nice one. I like that dress." I had tried it on for Eric when I got home with it. He had said he'd liked it, but then he was probably as deluded as I was when I let Tara talk me into buying it.

I sighed. "Well there's nothing inherently wrong with the dress. But I'm fat. And it looks bad on me. My arse is huge!"

Eric looked sad. "I like your, um, arse" he said, trying out the word. "But I think of it more as your ass" he added.

"Well maybe you're stupid too" I said. I had vowed not to get annoyed with him, but really, he was being annoying. Why couldn't he just agree that my arse was gigantic and the dress was a disaster?

"Maybe I am. But I don't think so. I think I have good taste. You're lovely, Sookie. You really are. And…" Eric lifted my chin with his hand so I'd look at him. "You'd be no fun at all if I thought I could break you." He smiled, obviously thinking he'd hit a winner there.

I cried harder. "That's the worse compliment I've ever had, Eric! You like to have sex with me because I'm built like a brick shit-house. That's just wonderful. I'm soooo glad that you're with me because I'm practically indestructible."

"Oh, no. No, that's not what I meant at all" Eric said, backpeddling. "Shit. Are you not going to give me a break at all?"

"No" I sniffed. "No, just agree with me and let me be unhappy about it."

"But I don't agree with you."

"Well, shut up then. Because you're not helping. In fact I think I feel worse now. Now I worry that you're one of those odd guys with the fat-girl fetish."

Eric sighed again. "Sookie, please just listen to yourself. You're over-reacting and you know it."

"Eric! If you're going to call me dumb then you can just bugger off now! Let me feel my own feelings please. You're just…just…not helping." I'd started off angry, but towards the end of that, I gave up. I wasn't really angry at Eric. It wasn't his fault he had no taste in women. Maybe he'd be lucky and meet someone else at the wedding, someone who looked more like the fiancée he should have.

"Sookie, you know, don't you, that I really do love you, and your body?"

I sniffed. I sighed. I gave a little shrug. I didn't really want to say the words, but I guessed he wasn't completely wrong. "It's my boobs" I said in the end. "Blokes love boobs, it's a known fact. And I do have big boobs. Thank God, or else everyone would notice how fat my stomach is."

"Oh Sookie, I do love your boobs, but I love _everything_ about you. I love how your skin feels. It's so soft. I could just run my hands over your body all day. I love your legs. They're fantastic. I love the way you wrap them around me, and the way you squeeze me with your thighs. It always amazes me how they can feel so soft on the outside, but be so strong." To make his point Eric rubbed his hands along my inner thighs and then bent down and kissed each one.

"I love you arms. I love it when you hold me, when you run your hands up and down my back." He repeated the stroking and kissing with each of my arms.

"I love your boobs of course" he kissed the top of each one, above the line of my bra. "And your ass…which is hard to get to when you're sitting on it, but I love it anyway." I giggled a bit at that.

He ran his hands down my sides and across to my stomach. "I love your stomach. I love the thought that you carried the kids…our kids in there. One day I hope to see you pregnant myself. And you might think its fat, but to me it feels…I don't know. Fantastic. Fuck, Sookie. I just love that you're built like a woman. A woman who can have babies, and who looks like a fucking woman. Why would I want someone who's all skin and bone? I want to run my hands over softness, Sookie. I want to run my hands all over you."

Eric was now kneeling between my legs and he was, indeed, running his hands all over me. I was starting to feel a bit better. In fact I was starting to forget what the problem was in the first place.

"Just believe what I'm saying, Sookie" Eric pleaded. "Just believe me because it's me and I wouldn't fucking lie to you."

"So, are you sure the dress is OK?" I asked, before I lost the power of thought all together.

"Oh, Sookie. The dress is lovely, but only because you're lovely. You could wear anything and it would look great."

I snorted at that, because Eric was patently exaggerating my loveliness. But I did feel better now. After all he was so gorgeous, and he wanted me, so the fact he wanted me must mean something. Probably that he was a bit stupid.

But, I thought, as Eric pushed me onto my back on the bed, I could forgive him for being a bit stupid. As long as he was prepared to be stupid about me.

**Thanks for reading!**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N Thanks again for the reviews! Not sure when I will be back after this, it's Labour Weekend here this weekend ('cos it's Spring!) so I get everyone home for a bit. But I hope you like this anyway!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

EPOV

After Sookie's weird episode over the dress and the size of her ass the night before, I was a bit worried how she'd be on the morning of the wedding. But she seemed OK. I woke up and she was still lying there, she hadn't run away which was something. She was just looking at me.

"Hey" I said, running my hand across her cheek.

"Hey" she said, kissing my palm. "I had to wait for you to wake up this morning."

"Yeah, well I'm pretty sure that's the way the world's supposed to work." Sookie laughed. "So, are you feeling OK this morning?"

"Fine, absolutely fine. But come on, if you want to have a shower with me we'd better get up now before Stomperella emerges from her room."

"Yeah, OK." Sookie got out of bed and I followed her. I wasn't entirely convinced that she really was OK. I got the impression that maybe she was a bit down, that maybe the previous night's breakdown was a symptom of something else. I wasn't quite sure what though. And I really wasn't fucking brave enough to ask if it was related to her period.

So I concentrated on enjoying my shower with Sookie, and tried not to see the sadness in her eyes. She let me wash her and I did have to laugh when I was running my hands over her ass. I couldn't believe she was so convinced there was something wrong with it.

"What are you laughing at?" she asked, trying to look over her shoulder.

"Oh, just well, um…" I didn't want to tell her I was laughing at her. I knew I'd be thrown out of the shower there and then and fuck knows when I'd be allowed to return.

But Sookie can be pretty astute at times. "Me?" she asked. I nodded. "That's OK. I was being pretty dumb last night."

I just stayed quiet. We were rapidly heading back to a conversation where I was damned if I agreed with her and damned if I tried to argue.

Sookie turned around to face me and put her arms round me. "Thank you" she said, quietly.

I didn't get to say anything because Amelia chose that moment to break into the bathroom. "Where's my breakfast?" she demanded. "I'm hungry!"

I tried my best to hide behind Sookie, who didn't really seem bothered. "Hang on, Amelia" she said. "We'll be out in a minute. Is Felicia awake?"

"She's yelling something" Amelia said.

"Well, can you go in and keep her company. But don't get try getting her out of the cot, OK?

"I'll read her a story" Amelia said, disappearing off.

"Hey! Amelia! Can you shut the door?" Sookie yelled.

Amelia said something I couldn't catch, but she doubled back and shut the door.

"It's alright; you don't have to hide from her. She knows you're there" Sookie said to me.

"Yeah, but, um, I'm in the shower…" I said.

Sookie looked at me. "Eric, I really don't think she could care less. I mean, you've seen her pre-school with the completely open toilets. It would be my worst nightmare, but the kids don't mind." Sookie turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel and handing one to me. "I doubt she really registers nudity at this age."

"I guess" I agreed. It felt a bit weird having kids in the room while I was in the shower, but Sookie was right. Amelia really hadn't batted an eyelid.

While Sookie made breakfast Amelia, Felicia and I took the slowest walk ever to get the paper from the letterbox. Well, Amelia went to the letterbox and back about 5 times before Felicia and I got there. Her walking was getting better but she was very slow, trying to pick her way carefully down the drive. I was a bit afraid to leave her given her tumble the other day so I hovered nearby and tried my best to walk at her speed. Which meant that a lot of the time I was just standing still. It might have gone quicker of course if she'd let go of the sock for a bit but she was not giving up Sockie without a fight.

SPOV

I felt really dumb when I woke up on the morning of Judith and Calvin's wedding. I never wanted to be one of those women who spend all the time asking other people if their bums look big in something. I didn't want to be that vain. But sometimes, just sometimes I wished I looked different to how I did.

And sometimes I wondered what the hell Eric saw in me. He was so bloody gorgeous, like he'd stepped out of a magazine or something. I realised I knew how the female blackbirds felt, given that they don't even get to be black, they're stuck being brown. Sometimes I felt a bit brown myself. But if I was going to marry him, I guess I'd have to get over that, or get used to it, or both. At any rate, I couldn't go on having melt-downs over the size of my bum.

So the morning was pretty much like any other Saturday, except maybe for the bit where Amelia came into the bathroom when we were on the shower. I didn't really think much of it. She always used to come in when it was just me. When you're mum there's no alone time, no personal space. Just a constant stream of demands, queries and one-sided conversation.

But I guess Eric wasn't used to it. Of course Amelia couldn't have cared less. It didn't mean she wasn't going to blurt out something inappropriate, like the fact she'd seen Eric naked. Probably she'd tell someone at the wedding. Possibly she'd tell Lorena.

That could make the day interesting.

After breakfast though we went outside for a bit. I needed to make sure that Amelia burned off a bit of energy so she could sit through a church service in the afternoon. I wasn't looking forward to that bit. It's bad enough when you're the bride, but when you're the guest it can be really boring.

Amelia was on the trampoline, when Riley appeared in his backyard. "Meelia!" he yelled. "Want to come and bounce with me?" He pointed to his trampoline.

"Why?" asked Amelia, still jumping up and down.

Riley looked thoughtful, but couldn't come up with anything. He obviously wanted her company, but didn't know how to ask. So he just stood there, gazing adoringly at Amelia who went back to bouncing and ignoring him.

"Do you want to come over here, Riley?" I asked.

"Yeah, OK."

"Well, go and ask your Mum then, so she knows where you are."

"MUM!" Riley yelled, running off. "MUM!" Poor Halleigh, I thought. I hope Ruby isn't asleep.

But Halleigh appeared on their deck with Ruby in her arms and started to walk over to me. "Hi!" I called. "Riley wanted to come and play with Amelia, is that OK?"

"Oh yeah, fine. No problem" Halleigh said as she reached the fence where I was standing. She looked tired.

I lifted Riley over and helped him onto the trampoline. "How's Ruby sleeping?" I asked, because it's what you ask. Even when you pretty much know what the answer is.

"Could be better. It's hard when Andy's working."

"Oh yeah, it would be."

"Do you want a cuddle?" Halleigh asked.

"Yeah, definitely" I said. I did, I liked babies. They were nice to cuddle, even if they occasionally spat up on you when you weren't expecting it.

Halleigh handed Ruby over the fence to me and I held her against my chest. I missed this stage. They were lovely, before they started trying to run my life or developed weird attachments to socks. Ruby sighed a bit and went back to sucking the side of her hand. Halleigh didn't seem to want her back so I stood there holding her for a while, making small talk.

Eventually Eric and Felicia came over. I'd seen them coming for a while as Felicia made her way across the lawn, getting distracted at one stage by Bob, and still clutching Eric's sock.

Halleigh and Eric said hello to each other and Eric eyed Ruby warily, like she might bite him. "You want to hold her?" I asked him.

"Um, I don't think so…" Eric said.

"Go on, she's lovely. It's good practice."

"I don't think I should practice on someone else's kid…" Eric said.

"You'll be fine" Halleigh said. "Andy was petrified when we had Riley, but he got over it."

"Come on" I said starting to pass Ruby over. "Just, put a hand behind her head, and then make sure you don't let her slip. You'll be fine."

Eric took her from me and sort of held her away from his body. He looked patently terrified, like he was almost too scared to breathe in case he dropped her. It was funny; I'd never had this with Bill. He'd of course been an uncle long before we had Amelia and if anything he was far more confident with her than I was. It probably helped that he was often convinced that he knew the best way to do most things, of course, and that included looking after a baby.

But Eric was really, really worried. He managed to tear his eyes away from Ruby long enough to look at me and give a half-smile. "It's OK" I said. "Hold her close, she'll like the contact. If you put her against your chest she hears your heartbeat."

"Oh, um. OK." Eric gathered Ruby in and held her. She let out a sigh and didn't really stir. Eric just stared at her, as if he was worried about what was going to happen next.

"Well I guess this is the part where I say 'bye! See you later on!'" said Halleigh, pretending to walk away.

"Ha ha" I said. "You forget I know where you live."

"Yeah, well I'd miss her anyway." Halleigh smiled at Ruby who was still enjoying being held by Eric. Eric still looked baffled by the whole thing. Felicia, however, had come over and was now tugging the bottom of Eric's shorts and going "Da! Dard! Da!" in a really annoyed voice.

"Oh, someone's jealous" Halleigh commented.

"Um, yeah" Eric said frowning, obviously not sure what to do now. I could see he really wanted to pick Felicia up, but couldn't figure out how to do that while still holding Ruby. Eventually Halleigh took pity on him and held out her hands "Here, I'll take Ruby back so you can get yours" she said. Eric gingerly held Ruby out to her and then bent down to pick up Felicia who immediately slapped Eric on the shoulder in a kind of high-five.

"Well if you want I'll keep an eye on Riley and bring him back in a bit" I said to Halleigh.

"Oh, great. I'll just be inside, but I might put my feet up while Ruby's sleeping. Andy's working so Riley's running me ragged today."

"Yeah, no problem."

Halleigh and Ruby walked back inside. "So, that was OK, wasn't it?" I asked Eric when she'd gone.

"What, holding the baby? It was fucking scary. I didn't want to hurt it."

"Babies are pretty tough, Eric. You'd be surprised."

"Yeah, I don't know. They're fucking tiny."

"Fa! Fa!"

"Oh, shit. I have to stop saying that, don't I?"

"Yep. Also you have to get used to holding babies. Because you're the one who was saying you wanted to see me pregnant, and that…" I gestured in the direction Halleigh had just gone "Is the result of pregnancy. A really small baby who someone has to hold from time to time."

"Yeah, I guess so." Eric looked worried. "Felicia might be jealous though."

"She's bound to be. Amelia is horribly jealous of her, and probably always will be."

"Yeah, I guess. It just seems a bit of a mean thing to do to your kids."

"Depends which kid you talk to. I'm pretty sure Felicia is OK with being born and me ruining Amelia's life."

"Oh, yeah. I wasn't meaning to…you know; tell you you'd done something wrong. It's just…I didn't have that. At all."

"I know. Well I only had Jason. He alternated between indifference and annoyance mostly. He probably wouldn't have been unhappy if they'd just forgotten to bring me home from the hospital. But we survived. Mostly. There was that time I knocked him unconscious. But we got past it."

"Um…you knocked him unconscious?"

"Yeah. I was, um…about 8, I think. So Jason would have been 11. He made me play war with him. He'd made the guns himself, out of some large bits of wood from Dad's workshop. So he came around the corner of the house and I hit him. Over the head. With the home-made wooden gun. He went down like a ton of bricks."

"Oh.

"It wasn't his last concussion either. In fact I have a feeling that if he ever loses consciousness again there might be brain damage. Not that we'll know. But anyway, the point is that you don't always have a choice about having siblings, but it's not the worst thing in the world. God, even Bill's sisters will all stick together if they have to."

"I guess."

"So Felicia will cope. If and when she has to. Which isn't right now, so she can enjoy having you for a bit. And your sock."

"It's Sockie."

"Yeah, I know there's a name. I just think that it's really too close to my name."

Eric didn't say anything but just laughed, and starting walking back to the house with Felicia in his arms.

I tuned into Amelia's conversation with Riley. "You're a boy" she told him. "You have a willy. Boys have willies. Girls don't. Eric has…" I cut her off. "Do you guys want something to eat?" I asked which caused them to race over towards me and forget the conversation. Thank goodness. Please let her lose that train of thought before the wedding I thought.

Getting everyone ready on time was a bit of a mission. I probably spent too long standing in front of the mirror in my dress checking how it looked. I didn't want to be needy, or fish for compliments, but I did ask Eric if it really looked OK. To his credit he didn't even roll his eyes at me, but just assured me that it did, indeed, look great.

The girls were mostly easier. Mostly, because Amelia's hair was a bit of a nightmare and I thought that maybe I should have asked to borrow some hair-straighteners from Caroline, and Felicia wasn't buying wearing a dress. But they had lovely, matching dresses which were made of some kind of taffeta and were shades of pink, coral and raspberry.

Best thing about them was that they cost me $14 each on the Pumpkin Patch outlet website, marked down from $50 each. I'd bought them months ago and been so pleased at my bargain-hunting prowess. It was funny to think the wedding was finally here.

Eric of course looked fantastic. He looked great, even when he was scruffy, but he really did look lovely in a suit. He moaned of course about having to get all dressed up on a hot Saturday afternoon. "I'll have to wear a tie" he said, buttoning up his shirt.

"No, I don't think so" I said. I didn't think the wedding was that fancy.

"But it's a wedding. In a church. I know how this works. Ties are required." He selected a tie and held it up against my dress, before putting it on.

"But it's New Zealand. Trust me, ties aren't required. As long as you have your jacket on for the service, and even then you could probably ditch it. We don't do dressed up." But Eric just looked at me, frowned, and tied the tie.

We pulled up at the church about a half an hour before the service was due to start. It was a lovely old wooden church in St Mary's Bay, which Judith had picked for its looks. Lorena of course was horrified that they weren't getting married at her church, but at least Judith had picked something that was the right denomination. God help Portia if she ever decided to get married in her church, the one Lorena didn't really recognise.

We got a very excited Amelia out of the car and Eric held Felicia. He scanned the crowd, and then handed Felicia to me before taking off his tie and stuffing it in his pocket. He didn't say anything to me, and I resisted the urge to say 'told you so' but it was true. We're New Zealanders. We don't do fancy. Not when it's hot.

We filed inside and took our seats and tried to stop Amelia asking too many loud questions and Felicia squirming too much. It was a bit of a lost cause really.

Calvin and his groomsmen took their places up the front. I could see him talking to his mother, who I thought was called something like Maryelizabeth. He looked a bit nervous.

Lorena wasn't here, of course, as she was arriving with Judith, as were most of the other Comptons. Portia was lurking around though, with Glen. I did feel a little bit sorry for her; it was hard to be the one sister who missed out. I guess that's what years of being a total cow get you. I wondered if Charles was here as well and if she'd be sitting with him.

When Judith and Lorena started down the aisle Amelia exclaimed loudly "Look! Aunty Jude's a princess!" which caused a lot of awwing from the ladies seated around us. Felicia just squirmed in Eric's arms. Amelia then noticed that Jessica was part of the wedding party too, and had a basket of petals to throw on her way down the aisle.

"Why's Jessie there?" she demanded.

"She's the flowergirl" I whispered back.

"I want to be a flowergirl."

"Well maybe one day you will. When Eric and I get married, but not now."

"I want to be one NOW!"

"Ames, you need to be quiet so we can hear" Eric whispered to her. Amelia looked grumpy, but she did stop talking. Thank God she listened to Eric.

The ceremony was as expected. It was kind of long, and a bit boring. I could see Eric's eyes glazing over at some points and it was only the fact he had to deal with a squirmy Felicia and keep telling Amelia to be quiet that stopped him nodding off. It hadn't seemed this long when I married Bill. But then I remembered sitting there, in the church where we got married not really listening to what the priest was saying.

I was thinking about how as we arrived at the church, Tara had told me I'd looked so happy and wondering if I was really that good an actress. I knew it was a mistake and I still did it anyway. And I'd feel guilty about that until the day I died.

But this time I could let my mind wander a bit. I stared at the other people in the church. Lorena looked mostly happy and only a little bit annoyed. She mostly looked annoyed with Maryelizabeth, though, thank goodness for the rest of us. Maryelizabeth at least could go back to South Africa soon and not have to deal with her anymore.

There were a lot of relations from Lorena's extended family. I got them all mixed up I'm afraid. Occasionally I'd see someone look at me, look at Eric, then look away quickly. That was to be expected I guessed.

But it still didn't feel very nice.

When it was over and we were outside in the sun the kids could at least stretch their legs. But it was photo time and Amelia wanted to be included in that too. Luckily they did family photos, but unluckily that apparently included me. And Eric. Which was brave of Judith. I wasn't sure how I felt being lined up between Eric and Caroline in front of the church with everyone staring at me. I didn't know how Eric felt about it either, but at least he'd look good in the finished product.

Finally Judith, Calvin and the rest of the wedding party headed off to take more photos and we could re-locate to the hotel in Grey's Avenue where they were holding the reception. There were drinks and nibbles, and most thankfully, Judith and Calvin had arranged a 'kid's room' with a couple of the women from the daycare Judith worked at to supervise them. So we could get a bit of a break before dinner.

Eric and I tucked ourselves away in a corner of the bar with some drinks. I wasn't going to drink a lot, but I was enjoying my gin and tonic. Eric was very responsibly sticking to Coke.

I wondered how long the photos would take and whether we'd get dinner soon. Just then someone stopped by the table "Hi Sookie!" a guy said to me.

"Oh, hi Simon." It was Bill's best friend. I hadn't seen him since the funeral.

"How are you?" he asked, obviously digging for details of my misery. I was kind of used to that.

"Great" I could feel Eric's eyes sliding from me to Simon. "This is Eric Northman. My fiancé."

I saw several things cross Simon's face, surprise, annoyance, and just a little bit disgust. "Right" he said. "Right, I didn't realise, you'd um…well, that you were getting married, or anything. I'm Simon Davis. I knew Bill for years and years."

Eric shook his hand and said hello. "Oh, you're American" Simon said to him, as if Eric hadn't realised that. Or maybe it was in case I hadn't. "Yeah" Eric said simply and left it at that.

"So I didn't realise you knew Judith that well" I said.

"Well, you know. When Mandy and I were living in the UK, Judith stayed with us for a while before she got set up. So she invited us. Mandy couldn't come though. She's due any day and she's on bedrest."

"Oh, well congratulations on the baby" I said.

Simon sat down at our table, annoyingly. "Thanks. Are your two well?"

"Yeah, great." At that stage Amelia raced over to ask if she could have something to eat. Eric handed her some potato chips out of a bowl that was on the table. "Thanks Eric!" she said.

"Hi Amelia!" Simon tried. He'd been her godfather, when we'd had her christened. At Lorena's insistence. I hadn't bothered with Felicia.

"Who are you?" Amelia asked.

"Uncle Simon."

"Oh" she turned to Eric. "Hey Eric, you're Felicia's dad now, right?"

"Yeah" Eric replied.

"So you're my…second dad? Right? 'Cos Lita asked me, but I couldn't remember." We'd tried to explain it to Amelia and tried to avoid the step-dad thing. And we'd left it up to her what she called him. At the moment she still seemed to like Eric, as predicted, but I wasn't sure what would happen when Felicia's speech got clearer and the use of Dad a lot more obvious.

"Yeah" Eric said again.

"OK, because she said my dad was Aunty Jude's brother, and I said you weren't, but she got confused. She didn't know I had you. But I tried to tell her that I had another dad, and she said everyone has one dad, but I said I don't. So I can tell her that, can't I?"

"Yeah, you can."

"Cool." With that she ran off back to the kid's room to tell Lita, who I thought was one of the women in charge, her entire life story.

Simon was still sitting there though. Obviously really interested in our domestic set-up. Just bugger off I thought. But I guess he was kind of on his own here without his wife and probably not knowing most of Judith's friends.

"Um, maybe I'll go and see who else is here…" Simon said.

"Oh, OK" I said, trying to pretend to be upset. "See you around!"

"Yeah, take care, Sookie. Bye Eric." He shot Eric a slightly dirty look and left.

"Thank God he's gone" I said. "That was awkward; he was Bill's best man."

Eric shrugged. "They're all going to figure it out, Sookie."

"Yeah, I know. But I feel a bit…uncomfortable about it all."

Eric just sighed. "I really wish you wouldn't" he said.

"Well, I can't help it. I just do." And I feel a bit grumpy now I thought; only I wasn't sure who I was grumpy with.

We sat there for a bit in silence and then Eric pulled his iPhone out and held it up. "Hey" he said. "I've got a new app for my phone."

"Oh" I said, not overly interested.

"Yeah, it's to control you" Eric said proudly.

"What?"

"Yeah, I'll show you. Hang on." Eric did something on the screen. "Um, I don't think it's working…" I giggled. "Oh no, it's OK" Eric said. "That's the giggle setting, that's working." I giggled some more. Eric kept poking the phone. "Hmm" he said. "Now it's stuck on giggle mode."

By now I was really laughing. And feeling a lot less grumpy. "Thank you" I said.

"What? For trying to control you with my phone? I think I paid for this under false pretences."

"Yeah, just for being you."

"I'm always me, Sookie. You don't have to thank me for it. Just fuck me occasionally, that'll work."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, well. You and your one-track mind. You're hopeless."

"I'm not hopeless; I just know what I want."

After that things went OK until the toast to absent friends. I looked around the room, Judith was crying openly, as were Portia and Sarah. Caroline looked a bit misty-eyed. Lorena looked; well, as human as I think I'd ever seen her look. She looked sad, and old, and broken.

And then I felt the tears sliding down my cheeks. "Um, I'm just going to get some air" I said to Eric, who looked at me oddly and started to say anything. But I bolted out of the room, down the stairs, through the lobby and out onto the street without stopping to listen to him.

I didn't want to listen to any of them.

I felt angry, and I didn't know who at. Some poor homeless person wandered up, probably from Myer's Park and stared at the woman in the fancy dress with tears running down her cheeks. "Just FUCK OFF!" I yelled at him. He'd do in a pinch for being on the receiving end of some of my feelings. He looked at me and I was scared for a moment that he might do something, but obviously I looked scary because he buggered off down the hill towards Mayoral Drive.

I started to walk away from the hotel, but my shoes were annoying me again, so I took them off. I wandered over to the entrance of an office building and slumped down. I hoped there were no security guards around to see me off. And then I cried like there was no tomorrow, leaving mascara streaked down my face and big wet splotches on the bodice of my dress.

Which is the state Eric found me in. Somehow he always finds me.

"Are you OK?" he asked, lowering himself to the ground next to me.

I shrugged. I really didn't have an answer to that question. "I'm a horrible human being" I said in the end.

"Why?" Eric asked gently.

"Because. Because I shouldn't have married Bill. Because it still makes me sad that he died. Because I'm marrying you, so I should be over it. And now I might stuff up your life too. It's all just so…complicated."

Eric shrugged. "I don't mind complicated. I'll take complicated if it's with you."

I looked at him dubiously. "Plus" he added. "If I can get that app working, I can just control you with my phone."

"Oh Eric" I said. "If only it was that simple."

"Yeah, if only. But in the meantime, I think we're stuck with complicated. Which is OK really. I don't mind."

I leaned into his side and hugged his arm, and he kissed the top of my head. I felt a bit better now. "So it's OK? That I still sort of…miss him?" I whispered the last two words. I wasn't sure of Eric's reaction. I felt like the worst kind of traitor.

"Yeah, it's OK. You can miss him. As long as…" Eric thought for a moment. "As long as I'm not just a substitute? I'm not, am I?"

I laughed. "Eric, I don't think I'd be substituting you for Bill. I think it's more of an upgrade." I smiled at Eric and he grinned back. "But you know, he was my friend…once. For a long time. When we first went to England he was my only friend there for a while. We had a lot of history. I like to think that if things were different...if we'd just split up instead, we would have stayed…maybe not friends. But friendly. Like, we could have been civil. We could have both been at this wedding and been civil to each other. I would have liked that."

Eric didn't say anything else, but he just held me. "And it's hard in there, you know?" I went on, "It's hard when they're all judging me for being with you, and I start to feel like maybe I should be guilty. Just a bit. Then I feel guilty about that. So it's a vicious cycle. It's horrible. When you get judged for what others have done. I've kind of done that to you. Bringing you here." I looked at Eric.

"You know" he said "It's not the worst that's happened. When my mom left when I was 7 she didn't leave on her own. She went with some guy, who had a wife and kids of his own. His son was older than me, but somehow that kid, well he thought it was my fault. He was probably angry at his dad, but I was there. So he used to beat me up. A lot. Until the wife, his mom, took them away to live with her mother. Thank fuck." Eric smiled at me and I was a bit astounded. Not only at the fact Eric was sharing his past, but that he had to go through it.

"I would have sorted him out for you" I said. I would have too. Eric frowned. "Well" I continued "I was, what, 13? And I was this height at 13, and I'd had 13 years to learn the Jason Stackhouse method of self-defence. Which was fight dirty. So I would have fixed that kid for you." I'd stopped feeling angry or sorry for myself, or even guilty. Now I was filled with righteous indignation at what Eric's stupid mother had put 7 year old Eric through.

"I wished you could have" Eric said softly. Then he looked at me "So, if you were this height, did you have those boobs?" he asked.

I laughed. "Well, kind of. Maybe not quite like this. I didn't like them though."

Eric frowned. "Really? 'Cos I would have liked them. So I wish you had been there."

"You liked boobs? At 7?" I asked incredulously.

Eric shrugged. "I keep telling you Sookie. I'm always me." He stood up and held out his hand. "Ready to go back?"

"Yeah, let's face the horde" I said, taking his hand and standing up.

"It's more Amelia I'm worried about. She thought you'd gone somewhere fun without her."

I laughed, and we walked back into the hotel hand in hand.

**Probably about one more chapter left of this story, then we'll start a new one, jumping forward to June, I think.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N OK so I kind of misled you guys. Firstly, I found time to write, secondly this isn't the last chapter. I had a re-think and I'm doing one more! Thanks for the reviews!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

EPOV

Just once I would fucking like for us to go to a social event with the Comptons and not have it end up with Sookie disappearing off to cry. Just fucking once. If I thought she would actually listen to me, I'd suggest we stop seeing them altogether but I know that wouldn't be allowed. They're Amelia and Felicia's family.

It's not that I have anything much against Judith and Calvin, and it's not like I care enough to even really be able to tell the other sisters apart, except for when the religious one is bleating on about how fucking tragic her life is. I don't have that much against any of them.

Except maybe Bill, but he isn't around for me to tell him what I think of him. Although there's a few ways I would have fucking liked to show him what I think of him. If Sookie wishes she could have taken out the kid who'd beaten me up, then I wish I could go back and take her away from Bill before he turned her life inside out.

But that's never going to happen so all I can do is worry about making sure she's OK now. For purely selfish reasons, if nothing else. Because I fucking need her. She's the only one I know is on my side, completely. And if she's not OK, then maybe I won't be OK either.

I do wish I'd seen her at 13 though. She would have been the fucking hottest babysitter I ever had.

So once Sookie seemed to be feeling better, once she'd given up feeling guilty for remembering Bill, or bringing me here, or whatever else she felt is her responsibility, I managed to persuade her to come back inside with me. I kind of dumped the kids to come out here after her and I hope like hell they haven't done anything too horrific.

SPOV

I let Eric lead me into the hotel lobby and then I had to send him up to the banquet room where they were holding the dinner so he could bring back my handbag. I needed to do some major repairs to my makeup before I could go back and face anyone. I hoped like hell no one had really noticed I'd left the room. Oh, who was I kidding? All the old ducks would have loved it.

Eric brought my handbag back then mumbled something about the kids and took off again. I did the best I could with my face. It was pretty obvious I'd been crying. I hadn't exactly been the only one though so maybe I wouldn't stand out. Too much.

When I was done I went back to the banquet room and found Eric sitting at our table with Felicia. "Where's Amelia?" I asked.

"Um, she was around…" Eric said, scanning the room.

"I'll go and look for her" I say. I found her in the corner talking to one of Lorena's relatives, a Batistich or a Vlasich. I wasn't sure. I tended to get them all a bit mixed up.

As I walked up I could hear Amelia telling the woman her life story. "I had a daddy, and he was sad to leave, but he did. So, um, then we got Eric. Now he's my baby's daddy. My baby Felicia. But she can walk now. So she's only kind of a baby. I'm not a baby though. I'm going to be a flowergirl. Like Jessie. But, um, I'll have a tiara. What's your name?"

The poor woman looked a bit confused. I wasn't sure how long the ramble had been going on for before Amelia had thought to pause and ask what her name was. She hadn't yet figured out that conversations were supposed to have two sides.

"Hey, Amelia" I said. "Do you want to come back to the table now?"

"Oh, OK" Amelia said, then she turned back to her new friend, who, for all I knew, was actually Amelia's second cousin twice removed or something. I'd need Lorena to confirm that though, and I was trying to avoid her. I was worried Lorena's thoughts were all on Bill and I didn't need to go there. Again.

"This is my mum" Amelia continued, "but she's not Sockie. That's Felicia's cuddly…"

"OK, Amelia that's fine. Come on" I said, trying to get her to come with me. Amelia finally got the hint "OK, bye!" she said brightly.

"Bye" the woman said as we went back to our table.

"Where were you?" Amelia asked.

"Outside."

"Why?"

"I, um, wanted some fresh air."

"'Cos you were sad?" Crap, I really didn't want Amelia to know that I'd had a minor meltdown.

"Yeah, a bit" I conceded.

"Oh, OK. Well Eric will cheer you up." Amelia sounded pretty certain on that fact, and I wasn't sure what to say, so I just stayed quiet.

We got back to the table and Eric and Felicia were sharing some dessert. I sat and picked at mine, and looked around the room. No one seemed to be paying much attention to us at all. So maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought it was.

I went to talk to Judith who was looking pretty tired and emotional and like she really just wanted to go and lie down in a quiet room somewhere. I remembered how that was. I said congratulations to Calvin, who was holding an even more tired looking Jessica.

And then Calvin moved off to hand Jessica over to Sarah, who was having her overnight, and I suddenly found myself alone with Calvin's mum. "So" she said to me, "How is it you know Calvin?"

I was about to try to explain where I fitted into the Comptons and then I realised; this was my chance to re-write a tiny bit of my history. "Oh, he's friends with my fiancé, Eric. They've been running together."

"Oh, right" she said. "I'm Maryelizabeth, by the way."

"Sookie. So you must be enjoying being here, and, um, seeing Jessica?" I asked, casting around for something to say that wasn't going to lead back to the stuff I was hiding.

"Yeah, it's great. She's so much bigger than when I saw her last."

Just then Amelia bustled over. Please don't ruin my fantasy-life I thought, selfishly. "Hello, I'm Amelia" she said.

"Oh, I'm Maryelizabeth."

Amelia didn't say anything to that, but just turned to me. "Mum, can I have another éclair?"

"Oh, um, alright, I guess." There was a buffet so there wasn't much I could do about it really, she'd just help herself.

"Cool" she said, sprinting off.

"How many kids do you have?" Maryelizabeth asked me.

"Two. Amelia and Felicia, who's just turned one. She's over there with her dad" I said pointing out Eric and Felicia, and being very careful to not say anything that wasn't true.

"Oh, you young people are all the same. In my day you got married first."

I got confused for a moment about what she was trying to say to me. And then I twigged. Of course, she was lumping me in with Judith and Calvin who were getting married two years after the birth of their daughter. "Oh yeah" I said a bit nervously, "Well, you know..."

"Oh, don't apologize. I'm not judging you. It's just different. I guess it kind of makes sense."

"Well, Amelia is very keen to be a flowergirl" I said. "Especially after today and seeing Jessica walk down the aisle."

"Yes, it is a big occasion for them. And it's nice to have them there in a way."

"Yeah, it is. I think Amelia thinks a wedding is all about being a princess." We both laughed and then I said "Well, it was nice to meet you. Enjoy the rest of the wedding."

I went back to find out what was happening. Eric and I had a go at dancing for a bit, but it was hard when he was also carrying Felicia. And Amelia at one stage when she felt left out. The kids were looking tired. Amelia was looking quite sticky the last time I saw her, due to the amount of cream and chocolate icing that was down the front of her dress. It was time to go home.

We'd lost Amelia again though. She was definitely discovering how to work a room. In the end I found her sitting next to Lorena. Lorena was still looking a bit sad. I felt a bit for Judith because really you'd want your mum to enjoy your wedding, and not spend the whole time remembering your stupid brother. I would have loved it if Mum had been at my wedding. And really bloody annoyed if she'd spent the whole time looking miserable because Jason was an idiot.

But that was my family and this was someone else's, so really Lorena was someone else's problem. As I got closer I could hear what Amelia was saying "I'm going to be a flowergirl too, Nana."

"That's nice" said Lorena.

"Yeah, Mum'll be a princess. 'Cos the girls are princesses when they get married, aren't they Nana? And boys are…boys are still boys? Yeah, Eric's a boy. Boys…"

"Amelia! Say goodbye to Nana. It's time for us to go home" I said, hopeful I'd got there in time.

"But I don't want to go home! I'm having fun!" Amelia pouted. Eric and Felicia arrived to back me up.

"Ames, it's time to get going" Eric said. He sounded tired. It had been a big day for everyone, although Amelia wanted more. Felicia was just about asleep. She was clutching the sock again and leaning against Eric's shoulder.

Lorena looked at Eric and Felicia. "What has she got there?" she asked.

"That's Sockie" Amelia said helpfully. "It's her cuddly."

"But it's just a…sock?" Lorena asked, reaching a hand out to touch it. That made Felicia's head shoot up. She really didn't like anyone else touching Sockie.

"Nuh, nuh, nuh, nuh!" she cried. "Nuh, nuh!"

Lorena pulled her hand back and I thought oh God, I stopped one blurting out something inappropriate and the other one just steps up to embarrass me.

But Lorena didn't look upset; instead she frowned a bit and turned to me. "Is she saying Nana?" she asked.

"Yep" Eric said. "Definitely Nana." I nodded. Sod it, I thought. She can have that one.

"Oh" Lorena said. "Come here, sweetheart." She held out her arms and Eric handed Felicia over. "You're such a good girl, aren't you?" Lorena asked her.

"I'm a good girl too!" Amelia announced, looking terribly put-out that Felicia was stealing the spotlight.

"Yes, you're both Nana's good girls" Lorena said, kissing each of them on the head. "But I think you both need to go home now. Nana isn't staying much longer either."

I was tired, I was emotionally drained and I was obviously feeling like a martyr. "Can we give you a lift, Lorena?" I asked.

Lorena actually smiled at me. "That would be lovely, Sookie. Portia was supposed to take me home, but I think she's off somewhere with that new man of hers." Lorena pulled a face and I realised that maybe there was someone slightly lower on the totem pole than Eric. Go Eric.

So we trooped off to say our goodbyes to Judith and Calvin, and then to Portia, who glared at me as if I was trying to steal her mother from her. Yeah, that was going to happen. And then we could finally go down to the carpark where I got to squish myself on the backseat of Eric's car between two carseats. Because we were in Eric's car, which was a lot higher off the ground, Eric had to help Lorena into the passenger seat which she really didn't like at all, and she made numerous comments about how ridiculous cars are these days and how they didn't really need to be this big.

She should have been sitting where I was because I thought the car could have done with being a bit bigger. Amelia and Felicia were so overcome with the novelty of having Mummy in the back with them that I got poked by quite a few sticky fingers.

At least we got Lorena dropped off reasonably quickly. Eric gallantly helped her out and walked her to her front door, which was hilarious to watch as Lorena patently wanted to tell him to bugger off and leave her alone, but couldn't figure out how to do so without letting on that she wasn't really the lady she pretended to be. To his credit, Eric just pretended not to notice her speeding up the path ahead of him.

And we finally got home ourselves, and had the task of putting two very tired small girls to bed. Felicia was pretty easy to change and get into bed. As long as she had the sock she was good to go. Amelia was still riding the high of being at an adult party and having all those people to talk to. She was talking non-stop and wasn't going to shut up anytime soon.

She was in and out of bed several times as she thought of new things Eric and I needed to know. In the end Eric took her back to bed before coming into the bedroom. "I think that should be it for the night" he said.

"I hope so" I said, stepping out of my shoes and starting to take off my jewellery. "What did you say?"

"That flowergirls need their sleep."

"She does know she's not going to be a flowergirl tomorrow, doesn't she?"

Eric shrugged. "Well, we'll deal with it tomorrow. Right now we just need her to go to sleep.

"Yeah, I guess so" I agreed going into the bathroom to take my hair down. "You know" I said through the bathroom door. "Weddings are a lot of hoo-ha for nothing sometimes."

I walked back into the bedroom and Eric was putting his shoes away. He frowned. "Hoo-ha?" he said.

"Yeah. Fuss. A big to-do. There's so much build-up then it's all over in a few hours."

"Oh, see I think of hoo-ha as meaning something else."

"What?" I asked, stopping what I was doing to watch Eric take off his shirt.

"Well…I guess you'd say it's like the, um, female equivalent of willy." He looked at me and raised his eyebrows and I sank down on the bed and covered my face with my hands.

"Oh God" I said. "Amelia?"

"Yup."

"Anyone we know?"

"Nope."

"That's something I guess. Shit, I thought I'd got to her in time."

"Yeah, she's determined to tell everyone everything. She doesn't, um, have boundaries."

"No. No she doesn't. Let's hope she gets some as she gets older." I stood up and unzipped my dress.

"Aw" Eric said. "I like doing that."

"Well maybe next wedding we go to you can unzip my dress afterwards."

"I'll hold you to that."

"Yeah, I know." I took the dress and hung it up in the wardrobe.

EPOV

The wedding seemed to go on forever. Sookie recovered from her breakdown but she was quiet for the rest of the night and there wasn't much I could do, I wasn't with her for a lot of the time. Managing the princesses of destruction took a fuck-load of energy. They might have looked like tiny angels in their party dresses, which Sookie had not yet tired of telling me were a complete fucking bargain, but they were a fucking nightmare. Amelia was determined to tell every single person there every fucking detail of her life. Including the fact that I, apparently, had a willy. That was fucking embarrassing. And a totally ridiculous term. Luckily I was unlikely to ever see that woman again.

And Felicia, well, she just wanted to eat my food and spread what didn't make it into her mouth all over me.

So between those two I didn't get to spend a lot of time with Sookie. Who obviously, and despite saying otherwise, was still feeling guilty. So guilty we had to take that old bat home when we left and put up with her moaning about the car all the way to her house, at which point she acted like I was going to follow her inside and steal all her stuff.

But we'd got through it and I could finally have Sookie all to myself for a bit. Even if she forgot to let me unzip her dress. Which was slightly fucking annoying. I felt like that should be my job. Sometimes I think she forgets I'm here. Or at least that I want to help her.

"You know I'd let you help me get undressed, don't you?" I asked Sookie, as she came back from hanging up her dress, wearing just her underwear and looking fucking delicious.

"Yeah, right. You're half-way there already. You don't need me."

"I've still got pants on."

She looked at me, considering. "Come here, then." I stepped closer and she undid my pants before leaning right against me to reach around and pull them down. In doing so she made sure to press her boobs right into my chest. The lace from her bra was a bit scratchy, but it was still a nice feeling. I really did like her boobs.

As she pushed my pants down though, she dragged her boobs right down my front at the same time. I particularly enjoyed the bit where she veered from her original course in order to pass one boob across my cock.

I stepped out of my pants and Sookie stood up. "Boobs lonely, were they?" I asked.

"Yeah" she said. "Want to keep them company?" She took one of my hands and put it inside her bra.

"Sounds good." I rubbed her boob for a bit, but then she pushed my hand out and stepped away. Which was disappointing.

But she did at least take off her bra, and then sit down on the edge of the bed. "Come over here" she said. "And keep them company properly."

"OK." I knelt between her legs but didn't touch her. She was being slightly bossy, and I wanted to see what she'd say next.

"Put your hands on my boobs, Eric." I did as I was told.

"Use your thumbs. Like this." Sookie demonstrated by leaning forward and running the pads of her thumbs across my nipples. I followed those instructions too.

After a few moments Sookie spoke again. "Now your mouth. Take one nipple in your mouth and roll your tongue around it. Want me to show you that one too?"

I nodded and she did. Then it was my turn to see if I could replicate the demonstration. Apparently I did OK if Sookie's moaning and the way her hands were running through my hair were anything to go by.

"Swap sides" she whispered. She was being fucking bossy tonight, but I really didn't mind. Maybe she needed that bit of control.

"What else?" I asked her after a while. This should be fucking interesting, I thought. She's normally not that great at telling me any fucking thing in bed no matter how much I ask her. I was expecting her to clam up, look embarrassed, mutter something under her breath, close her eyes or all of the above. I was not expecting her to say "Well, my pussy's lonely too, so I think you need to take my knickers off and put your mouth on my clit. Don't suck too hard though, just a bit. Oh, and use your tongue. I like your tongue. But I like it more in a sort of 'around' motion rather than just straight up and down. But that's OK too. In fact you can sort of decide that. I'll leave it up to you."

Fuck, I thought, as I pulled her panties down while she lifted off the bed to let me. I don't think I'd ever heard Sookie talk so fucking much during sex. And she hadn't even really been drinking. OK, we were sort of veering away from a bit of direction into giving me a fucking instruction manual, but it was kind of hot. In a really fucking bossy way. She obviously felt the need to boss someone tonight and I was it. Thank God we were fucking and she wasn't telling me how to paint a fence or something, that would have been really fucking annoying.

So I did the best I could to work with the framework I'd been given and Sookie shut up for a while apart from a quiet "Oh God" when she came. She sat back up and looked at me. "How's your cock?" she asked. "Lonely too?"

I nodded. "Well stand up then." I complied and she pulled my boxer-briefs down quickly and then leaned forward to take my cock in her mouth. That felt really fucking good, especially the way her tongue was moving. And I didn't even have to fucking tell her which direction to move it in.

But then she stopped and moved her head back. That was no fucking fun. "So" she said, raising her eyebrows. "I think my pussy's feeling a bit unloved too, want to set them up?"

"Fuck yes."

"Well get on the bed and assume the position."

I crawled up the bed and sat back against the pillows. Sookie straddled me and after rubbing herself against me a couple of times, reached down to lower herself onto my cock. "That feels great" she said.

"Yeah, fucking fantastic."

She put her hands on my chest and started to move. She was moving a lot, really grinding into me. I didn't really have to do much at all. And then she tensed up as she came again. I wondered if she'd get me to flip us over but instead she said. "Sit up so I can cuddle you for a bit."

I sat up and she put her arms around me. "I like this" she said. "I like it when I can rub my boobs against your chest."

"I like it too" I agreed. "Your nipples are really hard." Then I kissed her and we began moving again, slower this time, and without the frantic energy Sookie had been giving off before. "Oh Eric" she said against my neck as she came. "I love you."

I finished just after her. "I love you too Sookie" I said.

We stayed like that for a while. "You make me feel safe" she said, running her hand up and down my back.

"Yeah, I feel safe with you too." And I did. And not just because I knew she'd literally fight bullies for me. While I had no doubt that a girl who could knock out her older brother could indeed hold her own, I felt safe because she loved me. Because she'd lived through Bill fucking ripping her heart out and she'd still taken a chance on me. She'd seen me at my worst and she still let me in her door, her bed, and her arms every fucking time. She was the best thing I'd had. And she'd be the best thing I could give my kids, not some selfish bimbo like I'd had, but someone who'd stand by them, take on their bullies, and always look out for them.

I'd just have to work on that whole holding a baby thing. Fuck they were tiny.

**Thanks for reading!**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N So thank you all for the reviews to the last chapter! We had a lovely Labour Weekend here, the weather was fantastic. Only downer was a swarm of wasps who decided to gather near me when I tried to do some gardening! So here is the last chapter in this story. But because you've all been such lovely readers there's a 'bonus' chapter after this one, kind of like a DVD extra! So I hope you all enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

SPOV

By now I was getting used to the whole Eric sharing my sleeping space thing. But on the night of Judith and Calvin's wedding he seemed to want to cuddle me especially close, like I was his own version of Sockie or something. I suppose there's only one letter difference in our names after all.

So I woke up and I was lying on my back with Eric's arms wrapped round me, one of his legs on top of mine, and my face buried in the space between his neck and his shoulder. It was kind of hot, but also kind of nice.

However, it was also kind of early. It was still dark. I couldn't see what the time was, but it was obviously not time to get up yet. So I just lay there, thinking about everything. The wedding had put me in a bit of spin somehow. I'd tried my best to get rid of all the conflicting feelings I had, mostly I'd tried to get rid of them by having sex with Eric. But they were still there. Lurking in the dark.

Eric snuffled, made a snorting noise and suddenly woke up. He didn't move though. "You're awake" he said in a voice which sounded thick with sleep.

"Yeah, I was just…thinking" I said.

Eric hugged me harder against him. "Stop thinking. Go to sleep."

"Yeah, I'll try."

But I couldn't, I lay there for a bit, stroking Eric's arm. After a while he spoke again. "I wouldn't hurt you" he said.

I went through a range of responses in my head, from a mock-threatening 'You better not!' to a slightly exasperated, 'I know, Eric!' But what came out was "Please don't" in a very small voice that didn't even really sound like me.

Eric just kissed my hair and eventually I went back to sleep.

When I woke up again to the sound of Felicia chanting "Da da doo doo. Dard! Dard!" I was really hot and sweaty. It was nice to be cuddled by Eric, but there was a price to be paid. Still, it might be a godsend in winter I thought.

I nudged Eric. "Your fanclub's calling for you."

"Nrggh. Go back to sleep."

"No, it's morning now. Felicia's awake. I'd go but I'm pinned under something large and difficult to move."

"Lucky you."

I waited for a bit. Eric didn't move. Felicia kept calling. The toilet flushed signifying Amelia was up and about. "Eric, we've got to get up" I said.

"I know" he sighed. "But I like the snuggling."

"Well, I'm all sweaty now. And so are you. So probably that makes it less nice."

Eric sort of sniffed me, shrugged, well as much as he could manage lying down, and then put his head down again.

Amelia appeared then. "It's up time!" she chanted, cheerfully. "Eric, Felicia wants you. Mum, I want breakfast."

Eric finally moved off me and sat up rubbing his face. I didn't know why he'd listen to Amelia and not to me. I guessed because she was a lot more bossy than I was.

Eric headed off to retrieve Felicia from bed and I made a quick trip to the bathroom, and then went to sort out Amelia's breakfast. She was still nattering on and on about the wedding and about being a flowergirl. I learnt that she wanted a pink dress, a tiara and to carry roses. Or maybe daisies.

"Will Felicia be a flowergirl?" Amelia asked me, while I was making toast.

"Probably" I said. I wasn't paying a huge amount of attention to her.

"But she's little. She'd just fall over. All the time."

"Well maybe you could hold her hand. Anyway it's not happening anytime soon."

"What isn't?" Eric asked, entering the kitchen with Felicia.

"Amelia being a flowergirl, and all that hoo-ha. Um, fuss." I handed Amelia her toast.

"Oh" Eric said. He sounded a bit…off, or something. But didn't say anything else. He just went to make coffee while I handed Felicia some toast, half of which she promptly threw on the floor. I wondered if Eric was upset about the fact I wasn't out buying wedding magazines and trying to set a date or something. But to be honest, after the previous night, I was kind of over weddings. There was just so much attached to them. And not all of it was stuff I wanted to deal with again.

The morning carried on as normal. I made some pikelets for morning tea, so I could eat them with lemon curd, which was my new obsession. Eric gallantly offered to let me cover him, or part of him, anyway, in lemon curd if I was that obsessed with the stuff. I told him I didn't want to waste my precious supplies.

He tried the pikelets and pronounced them pretty good. The proceeded to eat a lot of them and put a huge dent in my lemon curd supplies. I said to him that if liked lemon that much I'd make him Mum's lemon hot water pudding sometime. It was something had divided our family. Mum and I liked things with lemon in them, Dad and Jason didn't. So we didn't get it very often. Consequently, to me it still seemed like a treat.

Amelia and Felicia sat on the deck with us and ate their pikelets covered in jam. Then there was a small squabble when Felicia touched Amelia with sticky, jam covered hands and in retaliation Sockie got thrown off the deck. Felicia stood at the gate, sobbing her heart out and crying "Nuh nuh nuh", so I left Eric to comfort her while I hauled Amelia off to her room to explain why you had to be nice to your little sister. I heard a weird echo in my head of Mum saying the same things to Jason, but I couldn't be sure if I was just imagining it.

By lunchtime, they were friends again. Well, Amelia was building things and allowing Felicia to knock the blocks down, but not actually build anything herself. No one was crying though so that was something.

EPOV

The fall-out from the wedding seemed minimal, apart from the two tired kids we were dealing with. Neither of them were particularly well-behaved and there was a lot of crying and yelling. Luckily there was no more crying from Sookie, but she'd been awake during the night and then she was quiet all morning. Apart from moaning a bit when I ate too much of her precious lemon curd after she made those weird-ass little pancakes for morning tea.

But every time weddings got mentioned she'd go off onto a little rant about what a pain in the ass they were. I wasn't sure whether it was just the fact she'd had a shitty time at Calvin and Judith's wedding, or whether she didn't want to have a wedding herself. Sometimes it would be useful to be able to read her mind.

After lunch I got a text from Calvin reminding me we were due to go around there for a barbecue. "Did you know about the thing at Calvin and Judith's?" I asked Sookie. I had been told, but couldn't remember if I'd told Sookie.

"What? Oh the barbecue" she said, sounding annoyed. "Yeah. I don't know why everyone has to do it these days. Once upon a time everyone opened their presents at the actual wedding. Now they all make us troop over the day after to see them opened. Supposedly it's for 'out of town guests', but it's just a pain in the bum. Especially when the kids are already tired."

"So…we're not going then?" I asked.

"No! We have to go. We'll go when Felicia wakes up from her nap, but we're not staying too long."

"OK then. Do I have to get changed?" Sookie looked me up and down.

"No, we're just standing around in their garden. You'll probably do as you are. As long as you haven't got any sticky handprints from Felicia."

I patted myself down, but nothing seemed that sticky, so I guessed I was alright. I wished Sookie would be a bit more alright though.

SPOV

I didn't really want to go back into the middle of the Comptons today, but I couldn't really get out of it. We would only stay for a bit. The tired kids we were taking with us were going to be a pain, but they were also going to be a good excuse to leave.

The guests standing around the garden when we arrived seemed to be pretty much the same as had been at the wedding the day before, minus the extended family which had obviously been there to make up the numbers in the church. So once again, I struggled to see the point of the whole thing, but I was trying to be gracious. Eric kept looking at me, as if he suddenly expected me to crumple to the ground in a fit of wailing. It was annoying. Because I was fine. Just a bit annoyed.

He went off to talk to Calvin, and I did my bit in admiring the wedding presents. As they didn't need a lot of household items they'd got some nice outdoor furniture and a few other things for the backyard. And a lot of vouchers.

I was holding a glass of wine and sort of staring off into the distance, watching Amelia and Felicia hang out with Jessica and some other small kids, and hoping they were behaving, when Maryelizabeth appeared at my elbow.

"Hi Sookie" she said.

"Oh, hi. How's it going?"

"Good." There was a pause. "So, you didn't say you'd been married to Jude's brother?"

Busted, I thought. This is why I always, always tell Eric this shit will come back and bite him on the bum. I'm absolutely no better. We're such a good pair.

"Um, well. Yeah." I said, eloquently. "I was, but I don't really…well, I mean. It was a while ago. Feels like a long time ago." Shit, I thought. She must think I'm an idiot. Or a really mean person. Or both.

But she laughed. "Yeah, ex-husbands. It's not worth the energy to talk about them. I tell you, if you put me in a room with my ex, Cal's dad, I'm liable to shoot the bastard. That's why he's not here. He's got a new family now anyway. They're bloody welcome to him, useless waste of space that he is."

Wow. There wasn't much I could say to that, other than "Oh. OK."

"They're ex's for a reason, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, they are." Although I didn't think I'd want to shoot Bill. More like give him a piece of my mind.

And then all of a sudden I realised that my hopeful vision the night before, the one where Bill and I could both go to his sister's wedding and be friendly, was never going to be a possibility, even if he'd lived. It was far more likely that we'd just have found ourselves in the middle of a big festering pile of resentment that would have gone on forever. And while it might not have ended with me shooting him, it may well have ended with us forcing Amelia and Felicia to take sides. Which would have been horrible for all of us.

And I can't imagine wanting to have dragged Eric into that mess and so I might have ended up alone as well. God, I thought, I would have been Lorena. That was a sobering thought.

And it would have partially been my fault for not telling him what I wanted. Or didn't want in the case of getting married. Although maybe that was deluded as well. I had wanted to get married; I had wanted to belong to someone. I had wanted a family to replace the one I'd lost.

I just hadn't wanted it with Bill. Not as much as I wanted it with Eric. Sometimes I wanted it so much it almost hurt.

I glanced over at where Eric was standing. I wouldn't make the same mistakes again. I'd have to talk to him.

While all this was running through my head, Maryelizabeth had just been standing there next to me. "You OK?" she asked me.

"Yeah, just thinking about…well, things. How different it is with Eric mostly. To when I was with Bill." I don't know why I felt the need to spill everything to her, but she was standing right there, and seemed vaguely interested. And Bill wasn't around anymore so she couldn't offer to shoot him for me.

"You're lucky" she said wistfully. "I would have loved to find someone else, but I just never did. Too much bad blood between me and my ex I think. Still, it could have been worse. Look at Jude's mum. That woman must have done something bloody awful to run her husband off; you can kind of understand why he left. She's as miserable as all get-up most of the time."

I nodded, but actually felt a bit…disloyal. I didn't like Lorena all that much either but she had her good points. I couldn't think of any at the moment, but I'm sure she wasn't all bad. And at the end of the day I was tied to her through my kids so it was best to just maintain a veneer of civility.

"Right, well I should go and see that the kids are alright" I said to Maryelizabeth.

"Yes, you take care Sookie. All the best for your wedding."

"Yeah, thank-you."

We stayed for a little while longer, but I stuck close to Eric for the rest of the time. I felt better when I was around him.

The kids were little puddles of tiredness by the time we packed them in the car. Felicia was sucking on Sockie. I realised I needed to ask Eric for the other one of that pair so I could do a sneaky swapover and wash the one she'd been loving. Amelia was obviously very tired as she wasn't even talking. Neither of them complained when we put them into bed.

"Make some coffee and then come and sit at the table" I said to Eric. He looked at me quizzically, but did as I asked. I had given myself a pep talk and I was just going to do it. I was going to tell him everything I wanted. I figured if I could do it in bed; I could surely do it out of bed.

But it's not as easy as you think it will be sometimes. "So?" Eric asked, sitting across from and sipping his coffee.

Right, I thought. Hardest one first. "I've, um, been thinking" I said.

"Uh-huh."

"Well, um. I don't think we should get married…"

Eric slammed his cup down. "Fuck, Sookie! I know you had a miserable fucking time at the wedding but don't take this out on me." He looked really angry.

"No, no. That's not what I'm saying."

"Well, what the fuck are you saying, Sookie? Because it sounds like you're saying you don't want to marry me."

"No. If you listen for a minute, what I'm saying is that I don't think _we_ should get married. I think _we_ should do something that's more about us."

Eric stopped looking angry and dialled it down to mildly grumpy. "Like what?"

"Like, um, there's this civil union thing you can do…"

"And what the fuck is that anyway?"

"Well, it's like a marriage, but it's really just the whole legal bit. It's what the government has that's open to everyone. You know, like same-sex couples as well."

Eric frowned. "But we're not a same-sex couple."

"No. I realise we're not. But I just think…well. I just thought that we should do something that's more, us. I mean, neither of us are particularly religious. If we hadn't had the kids you would have probably nodded off during the service yesterday, so we were never going to have a church service. And I think that 'marriage' has a lot of connotations that aren't necessarily what I want for us. I want this to be a partnership. I want to be equals. That's what I want."

Eric frowned. "But we are equals" he said.

"So then this is perfect for us. We can still have a ceremony. We can still have people there and say how much we love each other, and how we want to make a family together and stay together forever. But it's just more modern or something."

Eric was still frowning. "So, it's like a marriage, but isn't?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Then the point is?"

"The point is that it's what I want. Eric, bottom-line is I've been married. Didn't work out. For a lot of reasons. I don't want to just do the same thing with you. What we have is so, so very different that I want it to be something completely different from the outset. Do you get that?" I hoped he did, because from this point it could go either way. I didn't want to have to remind him that I'd been married before, but it was the only way I could think of to get my point across.

Eric looked thoughtful. At least he'd stopped frowning. "So…you'll still be my wife?" he asked eventually.

"I guess so. I mean, you say it now so it's not like I could stop you. But yeah, I guess that I'd still be your wife."

"And there's still rings and everything? Because we have to pick up your engagement ring this week I think."

"There can still be rings."

Eric shrugged. "OK then."

"So, really OK? Or just saying OK to shut me up?"

"Well, it's kind of the same thing. But really OK."

"Great. Thank you for understanding." I leaned over and kissed him.

"Anything else you want to get off your chest?" he asked kind of leering at my boobs.

"Well, actually…" I began. Well, I thought, I was on a roll, might as well dive right in. "I know that we were going to find something, a business, to do together, but I don't know if it's such a good idea to work together. All the time. Plus…" I paused for a bit. "Plus what I really want to do is the Jumping Beans franchise. And I can't see you dancing the Wiggly Woo. But I would love it, and I think I'd be good at it. And it will perfect when Amelia starts school in a year." The last bit came out in a bit of a rush.

Eric looked thoughtful again. "Yeah, OK. I think that's a good idea. You should do something you want to do."

"Really? You don't mind?"

"Nope. I can find something else to do."

"Are you sure?"

Eric fixed me with a slightly exasperated look. "Sookie, I said I was fine with it. And I am. So let's just do it. I'll sort something out. I have some ideas." I waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't.

"So anything you want to tell me?" I asked.

I thought maybe he'd say what he had in mind to do for a job but in the end he just said "Well…I was thinking it would be nice to have one of those stone walls built out the front, and maybe down one side. Better than that stupid wooden one that's out there which will need fucking painting soon, and looks like a gust of wind might blow it over."

"Yeah, part of it did fall over once. During a storm. Calvin had to fix it."

"So, even more reason. When I took the girls to the park I stopped and talked to one of the guys who was building that one down the road. It doesn't take them that long. And I think we can get a discount if Andy and Halleigh get on board and we do both places at the same time. Andy was pretty keen." Eric sat back, having said his piece.

I thought for a moment. "So, when are they coming, Eric?" I kind of had an idea how this worked now. If Eric was telling me it was practically a done deal.

"Um, we're pencilled in for the end of April."

"OK. Well I've always liked those walls." I had, they were kind of cool. And a really good use of all the volcanic rock that was lying around in Auckland. And Eric had been pretty good about all the stuff I'd dumped on him this evening that I'd let him have his wall. It was his home too now, if he wanted to barricade us behind a big stone wall, why the hell not?

We'd finished our coffee and I stood up and put the cups in the dishwasher. "So, what do you want to do now?" I asked.

"Well, how about we go to bed and you read to me from one of those porn-y books of yours? You have a very sexy accent you know."

I laughed. "That's not what you normally say. You're just trying to get into my pants."

"I don't think I'd fit your pants. But I wouldn't mind you getting out of them. At all."

"Well come on then. Shower first though. I'm sticky. It's been another hot day."

I started to head to the bathroom and Eric caught up to me so quickly he practically slammed into my back. Yeah, he was keen on the shower idea.

When we were in there I just held onto Eric for a long time. He stroked my back. "You can trust me, Sookie, you know" he said. "You can tell me anything."

"Yeah, I know that. I'm glad of that. Otherwise…well, otherwise it would be a disaster." And I'd seen the whole disaster scenario first-hand.

Eric nodded. I guess he'd seen his own disasters too. From what I could tell his parent's marriage had kind of exploded. I suspected that his mother hadn't exactly been talking to his dad if she'd just upped and run off with a neighbour. That wasn't the kind of thing you announced ahead of time.

"So…that's a rule then?" Eric asked, as he turned off the water and handed me a towel. "It's a rule that we trust each other."

"Yeah, definitely. It's a rule."

"Yay, I got to make up a rule" Eric said happily.

"You did. See that's because we're equals."

"Yep. And now off to bed to see if we're equally horny, I think" Eric said, scooping me up.

"Ooh, watch my feet on the door!" Eric threw me on the bed and I giggled. Eric lay down next to me with his face very close to mine. "You sound happy" he said. "Are you?"

"Yep, really happy" and I was. I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders. It was all going to be OK. I was sure of it. "You make me happy."

"Great. Well happy is good. Horny would fucking be better about now though" Eric said dipping his head to kiss my neck.

"Well, there's that too." I gasped as his mouth found my nipple.

It was slow and it was wonderful. Eric took his time to run his hands and his mouth over every inch of me. He was so thorough that at one stage I asked him if he was checking out the merchandise before he bought it. He didn't say anything but just grinned at me, and carried on.

By the time I'd orgasmed for the third, or possibly fourth time I was totally wiped out. Eric finished just after and I felt his back muscles tense up under my hands before he rested on top of me, panting slightly.

"How long have I got before you moan that I'm making you too hot?" Eric mumbled from somewhere above me.

"Oh, I don't know. A while. I'm getting used to it, anyway. It feels kind of like…home when you're holding me."

"Good" Eric said, pulling us over so we were lying on our sides. "Good." And then the only sound was his breathing because he'd fallen asleep. I guess he'd had a busy weekend. We all had. I was just glad to have made it through.

And then I got all emotional and whispered "Thank you. For being you." Just very quietly. But not quietly enough. Eric woke up with a start. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing. Just, thank you. You know, for being you.

"Mmm, I'm always me. Now go to sleep, I'm fucking tired." Eric shifted a bit, rolled me over, tucked me against his chest, and went back to sleep.

It didn't take me long to fall asleep this time. I felt safe, and I felt loved and best of all, I didn't feel like I had to be anything I wasn't. I could be me too. Eric loved me anyway. And I loved him.

**Pikelets are like Eric described them, like tiny pancakes, but a little bit thicker. And they're usually a morning or afternoon tea thing. Lemon curd is a lemon preserve that's normally quite thick and creamy.**

**Thanks for reading! And don't forget to check out the bonus chapter!**


	18. Bonus Chapter: First Words

**A/N So here it is, the bonus chapter to Homecoming! Thanks to everyone for being such awesome readers.**

**This is set in February, 4 years after the end of Homecoming. So at this point the kids are:**

**Amelia – 8 in a few weeks. ****Felicia – just turned 5. ****Sam – 2 ½. ****Tray – 14 months**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

SPOV

It was always interesting to see what the first word was going to be for any of my kids. I tended not to count the inevitable Mum and Dad and Ta and No that they all started with, but the first real word they said, which not only could you understand, but which they applied to the correct thing or situation.

Amelia's first word was Bob, but he somehow never appreciated the fact she wanted to have a conversation with him. It didn't put her off.

Felicia's first word was Sockie, except that for a long time she pronounced it as Sucky, which just made it even harder to explain to strangers.

Sam had two words which arrived pretty much simultaneously. One was out. No matter what time of day, no matter what the weather was like, he would sit at the door and chant 'Out, out' at me. The other was coffee, said as a question and with an American accent which Eric swore he couldn't detect at all. I think Sam thought it was some kind of greeting because Eric said it to me every morning. At any rate that was hard to explain to strangers as well.

Tray's first word was fuck.

At first of course I couldn't be sure that's what he said. I was folding laundry in the family room and Sam and Tray were messing around with the big box that held all their crap; toy cars, Lego, robots, dinosaurs and the multitude of annoying plastic things that come with Happy Meals.

I was lost in thought, or possibly counting the months until I had all four kids in school. Now that Felicia had started the end was in sight. Eric kept talking about another one, but honestly, I wasn't sure. Four was a lot of kids.

But Eric could talk me into all sorts of things so every time he mentioned the baby thing I had to do a sort of mental chant of 'la la la la la' in case I accidentally said 'OK, let's do it.'

Plus we had a trip to the States planned and I did not want to have morning sickness at Disneyland.

So the three of us were in the family room when suddenly a small voice said "Fuck". When I looked over at Sam and Tray though, they just seemed to be pushing their cars and stuff around the floor.

"Sam, did you say something?" I asked.

"Nope" Sam said, and he carried on bashing a robot against a dinosaur.

"Did Tray?"

"Dunno."

Nothing else happened for a while, except for a lot of roars and noises, a few fights over the toys and general business as usual. I thought maybe I'd misheard.

The next day however, when I picked them up from daycare after I'd finished running my classes I definitely heard it. We were driving down Mt Eden Road and had stopped at the lights. "Fuck" Tray yelled. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."

I swivelled round to see if he was pointing at anything, but he was just staring out the window. "Did Tray drop something?" I asked Sam. Sam just said "Dunno" and went back to eating the bag of crackers I'd given him when we first got in the car. He was really no help at all.

When Eric got home I was busy trying to make lasagne and supervise Amelia's homework, and I was far more interested in getting Eric to get the lasagne dish out of the high cupboard I couldn't reach, so it wasn't until bedtime that I managed to get a chance to tell him.

"So, um, Tray said something today. I think he said it yesterday too."

"Yeah, what was it?" Eric asked eagerly. He always liked it when they started talking. You'd think Amelia would have put him off but he was a sucker for punishment. Hell, he moved in with us knowing exactly what it was like when kids started talking and spilled all your secrets, so he was obviously a masochist.

"Fuck" I said, getting into bed.

"What?" Eric asked, maybe thinking I'd stubbed my toe or something climbing into bed.

"Fuck. Tray said fuck. Thank you very much, Eric."

"What? No. You misheard."

"No, I didn't. He said it. Because he's copying you. In the same way that Sam started saying coffee like he's an American."

"No he doesn't, I can't hear it at all."

"That's because to you it sounds normal. Trust me, round here it stands out."

"That's because you lot sound like cut-price Australians" Eric muttered, obviously feeling a bit hounded.

"Eric! I'm pissed off with you as it is, do you ever want to have sex again?"

Eric giggled. "Don't giggle" I said. "It doesn't suit you."

Eric just laughed again. "Don't be grumpy. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have said fuck. I'm better than I used to be."

"No you're not!" I was getting a bit wound up now, because he really had no idea just how bad he was. "I can hear you from wherever you are in the house every time you stand on a toy. You're LOUD. I don't think you realise how loud you are."

Eric looked a bit sheepish. "Oh yeah, well there was a casualty earlier."

I sighed. "What was it?"

"Some kind of robot, I think."

"Did you hide the evidence?"

"Yeah."

"Good, because if they don't see they won't realise. You really need to learn to watch where you put your feet though."

"Maybe we just need less crap strewn throughout the house in the first place?"

"Eric, for once can you just shut up and admit to being wrong?"

"No."

"Aargh. You're impossible."

I turned off my light and lay down, feeling a bit grumpy about, well, everything now. I kind of wanted Eric to go 'You're right. It's terrible. I've ruined our kids and I'll never swear again.' But that, patently, is not Eric's style. Much better to accuse me of mishearing Tray. I knew what I'd heard. And Tray had said fuck.

So I was lying there, stewing about it all, when Eric reached over and grabbed my boob. Yeah, he wishes, I thought, as I swatted his hand away. But he just grabbed my hand and placed it on his penis. Which was hard.

"See what you do to me?" he asked, huskily.

"How did I do that?"

"I grabbed your boob."

"Well, there's an answer to that, Eric. Don't grab my boob." I was feeling quite grumpy now. "I'm going to come to bed wearing a bullet-proof vest" I muttered.

Eric chuckled. "Oh, come on" he said. "Don't be like that." And then he did something really sneaky, he reached over and kissed me, hard. The kind of kiss from Eric that somehow always made me want to roll on my back, stick my boobs out and spread my legs. I still didn't really know how that worked. And why it worked every bloody time.

"Arrr. You are really pushing your luck tonight" I said, when Eric let me come up for air.

"Why? I just want to make love to my beautiful wife."

"Now you're being smarmy and American." I was doing my best to resist. I really, really was. And I wasn't even sure why anymore, but there was a voice in my head telling me not to give in.

"Sookie" Eric said, looking into my eyes. Bugger, I thought, I should have made him turn off his light as well so I couldn't see him. "Sookie, fuck me? Please?"

Well, like I always say to the kids, when you want something, please goes a long way to helping you get what you want. "Oh, alright" I grumbled. "But you're still in trouble."

EPOV

Sookie was really fucking pissed off with me about the fact Tray said fuck. I wasn't convinced. I didn't say it that much; he was probably trying to say duck or something. Sookie didn't buy that argument though. And I really didn't want to push her too far. We were currently hovering somewhere between a 'we'll see' and a 'possibly' on the subject of another baby and I really didn't want to jeopardise that. So I did my best to keep my head down. But I had a week of constantly being told that Tray was saying fuck. I didn't hear it at all, not even when I was working from home and watching over them.

On Saturday we took all the kids for a walk up to the Village, which meant that I was trying to manage Amelia and Felicia on their scooters and make sure they didn't knock any little old ladies over, and Sookie was pushing the double stroller with Sam and Tray. I could kind of see Sookie's point that this was a lot of kids, but surely one more baby wouldn't add that much more to the mix. We could put Sam in the trike with the handle and I could push him to free up space in the stroller, although I guess at first we could put the new baby in the frontpack. So I was lost in thought, trying to work out the logistics of managing five kids on a walk, while half-paying attention to the four that we currently had, when all of a sudden a small voice said "Fuck."

I turned round to look at the stroller and Sookie glared at me over the top of it. "Did you hear it that time, Eric?" she asked.

"Uh, I heard something. But I don't think that's what it was."

"Was what?" Amelia asked.

"Nothing" Sookie said.

"Mum, you said we're not allowed to say that. When you ask us what we said we're not allowed to say 'nothing' because that's rude. So what did you say?"

I could see Sookie tense up. She really hated being lectured by Amelia. She hated it even more when Amelia threw her own rules back at her. Sookie's jaw set tight and she was about to say something when I intervened. "We were just discussing what Tray said" I told her.

"Oh" said Amelia. "Fuck? Yeah, he says that all the time. I told him to stop, but he doesn't listen to me. He's like Leesha." She gestured over to Felicia who was rolling backwards and forwards on her scooter in her own little dream world. She was in danger of heading off down someone's driveway so I hauled her back. "What?" she asked, but I didn't reply. "Ames, I don't think that's what he's saying."

"Yeah, it is. He even sounds a bit like you when he does it. I've heard him." Amelia was getting really argumentative as she got older. And she fucking sounded like Sookie. I wasn't sure I needed two of them.

"OK, well, let's just forget it for now. And carry on. If you're all good I'm buying ice cream." That still worked, most of the time.

"Yay. Ice cream!" Felicia said, tuning back into the conversation.

"Ice, ice, ice." Sam chanted from the back of the stroller.

Tray didn't say anything thank fuck, but a babble of nonsense. The whole situation seemed to have calmed down so we carried on.

Later that afternoon I was lying on the floor playing with Sam and Tray. While I'd enjoyed having Amelia and Felicia, I'd spent a lot of time dressing Barbies and having tea parties and it was a bit of a fucking learning curve for me. Felicia had been a bit better, but even so. I'd had to learn about girl stuff in a hurry.

But with Tray and Sam I really got what the games were. I could even totally understand why there was a huge pile-up because a T-Rex had somehow turned up on the freeway. And was currently fighting a robot.

So I was half-watching what they were doing, but mostly letting them get on with it and enjoying no one wanting much from me when I heard it. Tray said fuck. It was unmistakeable.

"Sam, did Tray say something?" I asked.

"Yup"

"What?"

"Dunno." Sam wasn't that interested in his brother, he was far more interested in trying to see how many cars he could fit on the large car transporter truck he'd got for Christmas. Tray was trying to persuade Sam to hand it over.

"Fuck, fuck!" he said, holding out his hand to Sam.

"Tray" I said to get his attention. "What's this?" I held up a smaller truck so he could see.

"Fuck" Tray said, matter of fact, before turning back to Sam.

I fucking knew it wasn't me.

SPOV

I was starting to get dinner organised when Eric appeared in the kitchen, carrying Tray and looking triumphant.

He put Tray on the ground and held up a toy truck. "Tray, what's this?"

"Fuck, fuck" Tray chanted.

"He's just saying that because you won't give it to him" I said.

Eric shook his head. He held up a toy car, and Tray sort of made an "Ah, ah" sound that might have been car, or ta. He did the same for the dinosaur. Then, with a flourish, because he was really enjoying this show, Eric produced the truck again. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Tray chanted again. This time Eric rewarded him by giving him the truck, and he sat down on the kitchen floor and started pushing it around contentedly.

Sam appeared in the kitchen, opened the fridge and said "Mummy, I want milk" so I poured him a glass while Eric said "See, its truck, Sookie. He just can't say 'tr' so he says an 'f' sound instead."

"Hmm, maybe. I still think he wouldn't say it if you didn't say that particular word so much."

"It's truck. You can't blame me for how someone who's only just turned one pronounces truck."

"Maybe we need to teach him the word lorry, then?" I said, after thinking for a bit.

"Yeah, I don't think so. He'll get past it."

"In the meantime though, I'm stuck with the kid who swears all the time."

Eric shrugged. Now he'd proven he wasn't responsible he'd kind of lost interest.

Just then, Sam split some of his milk. "Bugger!" he exclaimed.

I grabbed a cloth to wipe it up. When I stood up, Eric was smirking. "That, I think you'll find, Sookie, is all due to you." And then he walked off. Smug bastard, I thought.

EPOV

I realised I'd dodged a fucking bullet with that one. I was pretty sure the whole fuck thing was actually an attempt to say truck, but I could never be a hundred per cent sure. As far as Sookie was concerned I was though.

But I learnt my lesson. And when Pam was born I tried really fucking hard to rein it in. I needn't have bothered. She had four older siblings to teach her her first word. It was 'mine'.

**Thanks for reading!**


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